Ebay Search Engine Optimization – SEO for Auctions and Stores

Find More Potential Buyers for Your Ebay Store on Search Engines

With Ebay, there’s a huge built in audience that could potentially see your auctions. Traffic on the Ebay site is just a small portion of where your potential traffic can come from. With the right search engine optimization, you can find new potential buyers. Depending on your marketing efforts and the quality of the links headed to your Ebay store, this can drastically increase your sales, your traffic, and exposure. Try using these tried and true Ebay SEO tips and start selling more through Google search results, articles, and backlinking.

Ebay search engine optimization

Increase Your Search Engine Presence with Backlinks

Backlinks are one of the keys to optimizing your store for success. If you’re just starting out, this can sound like a difficult task, but it’s not as hard as it sounds, and it does take time. Building links slowly and naturally are what search engines want to see, so take your time to build up high quality links heading to your Ebay store from the most relevant sources that you can find. The age of the links also matter. Your own personal blog, Squidoo, Hubpages, and online articles are a great source of backlinks. Write your own content to promote your Ebay store, or find someone else to write it for you. The more links you can get into your store, the higher you will rank for certain keywords. Link not just to your home page, but to other pages within your store. These are called deep links, and are also important to your overall Ebay SEO.

Optimizing Your Ebay Auctions for Keywords

Keywords are one of the most important aspects to gain success on Ebay. Keywords, as you probably already know, are the most important part of your auction title, but are incredibly important inside the auction as well.

If there’s one thing that you should avoid with your Ebay auction it’s terseness. Don’t be short. Be lengthy, descriptive, and give your buyers all of the information that they might need. Sprinkle in keywords like the brand name, color, item code and size throughout the listing. Repeating these items are necessary, since search engines value repetition. Keep the repetition to 1 out of 100 words or so, because too much can get you penalized.

Your auction photos should also be optimized for search engines. Using Ebay’s paid photo host is a bad idea, not only because it costs money, but because the images are sometimes too small, and the images aren’t tagged. Instead, use one of the many free photo hosting websites like Photobucket. Add your own tags to the description where the ALT code is to something relevant to the item. These have heavy weight with search engines. Consider using the largest size photo available. People love large photos and detail.

Ebay now also has a built in high placement in Google search results. To get a good placement in these results, keep the most crucial keywords at the beginning of your title, and be sure that your item has plenty of photos, keywords, a good description, and your feedback score is impeccable. In addition to search results, auctions can also be found on the “shopping” tab of Google.

Increase Your On Site Ebay Links

Ebay Stores allow you 4-5 custom pages with a basic subscription. You also have your About ME Page. You should be utilizing all of these resources that are at your disposal to fully optimize your store. Once you’ve written  your 4-5 pages, you’ll find those may not be enough. There are a few ways to get more pages and links headed into your Ebay store. Ebay Guides offer infinite ways to promote your store. Offer up some advice on how to use the products you sell, review them, and offer useful, in-demand articles through your Guides. These index perfectly in search engines, and often attain a high PageRank after just a few months. Link to your Ebay store in every guide, or to a page within your store. There’s currently no limit to the amount of guides you can create, so take advantage of this!

Another place to attain inward links to your store are through your free Ebay blog. You’re provided with free blogs on your “My World” page, and these get a lot of traffic from both search engines and readers of the blogs. Learn how to blog for your Ebay store here to increase your links and exposure.

Links can also be gained from the Ebay forums. Link to your store from your signature and you’ll see a slight rise in traffic (and a lot of incoming links once you start posting more often).

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Where to Find Black Friday and Cyber Monday Online Sales and Deals for Reselling

On Black Friday, you’ll find countless deals in brick and mortar stores. However, your time is not limitless. If you shop online instead, you’ll beat the crowds, be able to shop for more stuff, and still be able to sleep in and not leave the comfort of your home. We’ll point you in the right direction to finding the best deals online, and tell you exactly how to save more money on your purchase.

Remember having to park outside of the mall or that one store where people were lined up? Those days are over. It’s no longer necessary to shop that way to find deals on Black Friday. The best sales can be found online, not in person. What does that mean for you? More time with your family, less time shopping in stores, and more money in your wallet (we could all use a little more of that, right?). Read on for some money saving tips, information on how to find online coupon codes for Black Friday, and how to find great discounts on everything on your Christmas shopping list this year!

Black FridayHow to Save Money on Black Friday

Black Friday doesn’t just exist in retail stores, it exists online as well. Retailers offer substantial savings for hungry discount shoppers and looking for great buys during the holiday season. The great thing about finding these deals on the web is that you will have the time to comparison shop instead of going from store to store (not to mention you won’t have to brave the elements, try to find a parking space, or stay up late to get these deals!).

Like any other year of holiday shopping, you’ll want to make a list of who you want to buy for and what you’re buying for them, so you won’t be tempted by some of the other items offered – though you can find some great deals that you may have not expected to find during your hunt.

Photo right by Beth Rankin, licensed under CC 2.0.

Some of the best ways to save money on Black Friday online:

1. Use coupon codes. Coupon codes are usually advertised on the home page of websites during this time of year, and sometimes can include offers like free shipping or free gifts included with your order. If you can’t find a coupon code on the website, try coupon code websites like Retail Me Not. Just search their website for the name of the website you’re shopping at.

2. Know the deals ahead of time.Shop the clearance section of other stores, check Amazon.com, and check Google for prices of the product you are buying. Sometimes even the advertised sale price is higher than you can get the same item somewhere else.

3. Check Ebay. It isn’t just for used stuff, they have plenty of brand new items as well. Search the website for deals on the same product. You might be surprised by what you find.

4. Shop with free shipiping. Most online retailers are smart enough in this day and age to offer free shipping. If they don’t, try to find a coupon code online. Use Google to search for the name of the company plus the phrase “free shipping” to find the latest coupon codes to enter upon checkout.

5. Make sure the retailer offers returns. Check the return policy so you don’t get stuck with an item that the recipient doesn’t want, need, or like.

Cyber Monday Deals

Cyber Monday

The Monday following Black Friday you’ll get another rush of deals and excitement as retailers wait for the wave of shoppers to hit the online checkout. It’s been dubbed Cyber Monday by online retailers. Why Monday? Most people head back to work Monday, shopping online at work (don’t let your boss catch you!). These deals are often not as good as Black Monday online deals, though they vary from site to site. Typically, the best deals can be found on Black Friday and at the shipping cutoff deadline for Christmas. Again, this can vary from retailer to retailer, so check your favorite sites often for the current deals.

Go to Familiar Places

Check the websites of the stores you already visit. If you usually shop at Wal-Mart, check their website. If you like Borders, go there. Last, but not least check Amazon.com. They have substantial savings on almost every single item you can imagine. The prices are often lower and the shipping is sometimes free with their Super Saver Shipping.

How to save even more money on your purchases on Black Friday

Besides hunting for bargains, you can also save money a few other ways:

1. Join rewards programs on websites like Ebay. Recently rolled out is the Ebay Bucks program, which allows you to accrue points for your purchases. These points are redeemable for credits on the website.

2. Use a rewards credit card to pay for your items. If you pay for your gifts with a rewards card, you’ll be able to accrue points towards items or gift cards. Just make sure to pay off the entire balance when the statement comes in at the end of the month, so you won’t accrue finance charges. If you already have a balance on your card, this might not be the best option for you.

3. Visit PayPal.com. Sometimes their shopping portal offers discounts on huge websites like Overstock and other big name brands you’ll be shopping at for the holiday season. These discounts may not be offered anywhere else. If you don’t have a PayPal account, learn how to sign up for a PayPal account here.

New to Online Shopping? Follow These Basic Tips:

If you’re new to online shopping, there are a few things to know to have a secure transaction. Most big name websites are very secure, but you’ll still want to be careful when shopping online. Here are some tips:

  1. Use PayPal when possible. The seller protection policy will protect you from sellers that offer product that doesn’t live up to what it was supposed to. This means damaged goods, items not received, or other problems that could potentially arise.
  2. Use a credit card, not your bank account. First off, use PayPal when possible to fund purchases. This desguises your banking info or credit card information. If you use a credit card instead of a bank account, you’ll also have protection from the credit card company. If you do happen to have some sort of theft on your account, it’s always better that they steal credit instead of actual cash from a bank account. The credit card companies will work with you should someone steal your identity.
  3. Shop at major retailers and secure smaller websites. To check if a website is secure, simply use PayPal at their website. Another way to be sure that they are reputable is to use McAfee Site Advisor. In Google searches and on the website, it will tell you if the site has been tested and meets their standards for a clean website.
  4. Make sure your firewall is intact. Use a good virus protection and that your computer is secure before you shop. Installation of virus protection is simple and well worth the money – they are pretty cheap anyway.

How to Turn These Items Over Into a Quick Profit

It’s not all about gift giving on Black Friday. Retailers are out to make big profits, and so can you. If you’re feeling adventurous, sure, you can go fight the crowds, but you’ll have far better luck if you use your computer and scoop up one-day-only deals that you can resell down the road during the holiday season for bigger bucks. Here are some tips on what you should do to turn items over fast and receive a good profit from them:
  1. Don’t buy too much of the same thing. Vary what you buy, but do buy more than one of an item if you’re planning to resell it on Ebay. That way you can do a quick and easy relist. Buy too many of the same item, and you could wind up getting stuck with it.
  2. Offer express shipping. Buyers really love express overnight shipping during the last two or three weeks before Christmas. Offering it will practically guarantee sales.
  3. Always add a buy it now price. Auctions are a waste of time for everyone this time of year, so just list it buy it now style instead. Buyers need these for gifts!
What ways do you save on Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Have you found any great deals that are so good you’ve decided to resell it for a bigger profit? Tell us about it in the comments!

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How to Increase Ebay Traffic Using Squidoo

The best things in life are free, aren’t they? As a totally free way to promote your Ebay auctions and store, Squidoo offers a unique solution. Not only that, but you can earn commissions on any purchases you’ve referred using their Ebay affiliate module. As a seller, that means you could potentially earn twice on the same item.

Getting traffic to your Ebay store isn’t easy. It’s hard to get an Ebay store high in the SERPs by Google. Squidoo can help to alleviate some of that traffic pain.

squidoo logoRelying on Google for all of your outside traffic isn’t a good game plan. Google is fickle, and drops sites from their index all the time without any real reasons why. What does this mean for you? It means you shouldn’t rely on Google.

To get around using Google, it means you’ll need to have other traffic sources for your Ebay store (besides Ebay itself). Not just ONE other place should be used to promote your store, but many websites. Squidoo can and should be one of those sites.

What Squidoo can do for you is create a real place to showcase your best items, your items in one specific niche, your best sellers, your archive of past items sold, or to highlight one really high profile auction.

So what is Squidoo? It’s not a blog, but a site full of static standalone pages on any one particular topic. There are hundreds of thousands of users on the website who earn from Adsense, Chitika, CafePress, Amazon, and Ebay ad revenue. While some of the ads you aren’t in control of, you are in entire control of the Ebay ads that run on the page, and they can be quite effective at driving traffic to your listings.

The first thing to do to get started on Squidoo is sign up. Next, you’ll want fill out your bio, upload a picture, and think of the topic for your first “lens,” or page. What should you write about? Think like a searcher or buyer. What wording would you use to get to where you want to be? If you’re looking for reviews on a specific product, you might search “Amazon Kindle reviews.” If your looking for sizing information on womens shoes, you’d probably search “how to size womens shoes.” If you’re searching for a certain collectible doll, you’d probably search for the brand name + doll, maybe even prefaced with the word “buy” or suffixed with “reviews.”

Squidoo is a well respected website that has millions of visitors per month. The site even drives traffic from within to its own pages. This means whatever content you create — assuming it’s useful — will be indexed by Google.

7 Things You Should Know Before Creating Your First Squidoo Lens

  1. You don’t need to know HTML to write a Squidoo lens, but you should know some of the basics. This lens on Squidoo gives a nice overview of the basic HTML allowed on Squidoo. Basically, you should know how to create a link, use bold tags, and display an image. For those that have no interest in learning HTML, Squidoo has modules for photos and links.
  2. Writing a Squidoo lens takes time. It’s not a 15 minute thing to create a good lens that’s going to get Squidoo traffic. A good lens will have plenty of photos, links, and useful content. The title should also be true to the content.
  3. Your best performing lenses in terms of Ebay traffic will probably be product oriented. Try “best of” lists and niche pages that collect many of the items you sell into one useful, all-in-one shopping page.
  4. Lenses work best when published in groups. This way, you can link them all together and see even better Google traffic. Make a plan to create a small number of lenses (say five), all linked together, all containing several Ebay modules. Don’t forget to link to your Ebay store as well, and not just use the Ebay module.
  5. Size does matter when it comes to the length of the lens. Longer blog posts, web pages, and Squidoo lenses overall rank better in search engines than shorter ones. Divide your content up over many modules, and have the goal of each Squidoo lens being at least 1500 words. A good minimum number of modules is ten.
  6. The Ebay module “description” cannot be seen by search engines. Don’t include much of your text in the description field of this module.
  7. You’ll earn for every sale generated through the Ebay module, even if it wasn’t your own product.
After you publish your first few lenses, what’s next? It’s time to look for other traffic sources or even blog about your Ebay store. Then, traffic will really start flowing, and sales will be on the increase.

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Five Websites To Promote Your Ebay Auctions (and Make Extra Money)

Outside of Ebay, there are a wealth of promotional opportunities waiting to help market your Ebay auctions and store. These websites can not only help to drive new buyers to your auctions, but you can earn a commission on every product buyers purchase on Ebay through your affiliate links.

Ebay Partner Network

This website is Ebay’s official website to earn affiliate commission for driving traffic to Ebay products. The way Ebay Partner Network works is you’ll earn money — from dollars to cents — for every click that you drive to their website, depending on the quality of the click. If the click results in a sale, that’s a higher value click, and you’ll get paid more. The more valuable clicks you refer to Ebay, the more money you’ll make.

To drive traffic to their website, you’ll first need your own blog on your own website. This means you can’t rely on Blogger or a WordPress.com subdomain, it will have to be a website that you own personally.

Signing Up for Ebay Partner Network

Before signing up with them, it’s a good idea to start posting far in advance. It turns out they have strict criteria for websites, so yours will have to already be established. Have a clear strategy planned out in advance, because they’ll ask you how you plan on using EPN. Your approval may depend on your answer.

Squidoo

This article publishing website allows you to create a page on any single topic. Create as many as you like, link them together, and place Ebay “modules” on your pages to drive traffic to your items. In addition to driving traffic, you can feature other seller’s items through the Ebay module and earn a commission. You’ll also earn money through Adsense, Chitika, and other ads that are automatically placed on the page. Earnings are payed through PayPal 60 days later. Squidoo has seen an increase in traffic and rankings over the years, making it a worthwhile platform to invest your marketing time.

Wizzley

A newer site to the article publishing scene, Wizzley has an Ebay module very much like Squidoo’s. You can refer traffic to your listings using the same approach here: publish an article within your niche, and link to items in your store or under your user ID. Wizzley is a great site to feature your products and funnel traffic towards your store.

Zujava

A fresh face to the world of online articles, Zujava also allows you to add Ebay products to your article (or leaf). Easily add new sections featuring text, photos, videos, Flickr photos, and links to your Ebay store. Each article is monetized with ads, which can also generate a passive income for you over time (in addition to driving traffic to items).

Hubpages

This website features an Ebay “capsule,” which is much like Squidoo’s Ebay module. This too can drive traffic to specific keywords.  Additionally, you can filter the results by adding your seller ID to the capsule. Like Squidoo, you’ll earn a commission for every sale you refer to the website. Earnings are paid directly through Hubpages Ebay Ad Program.

Blogger

Blogger is completely free to use, and can drive considerable traffic if you’re an active poster. Plug in your Adsense publisher ID to earn a little bit of money here through Adsense, too. While Blogger doesn’t have any Ebay gadgets to promote your website, you can link directly to your store and pages throughout the content.

Before you publish any content on any of these websites, it’s best to have a plan in place before blindly writing content. The content that you are writing to promote your Ebay items should be directly related to the items that you sell. If you sell baseball cards, blog about the newest additions to your store. If you sell handbags, feature the new product line in detail on Squidoo, with a module featuring your own handbags that you sell.

In addition to using modules, don’t forget to link directly to your Ebay store, ID, About Me page, and other pages throughout your store. The more relevant links that you have pointed towards your store, the more traffic can result. These backlinks will also help your Ebay store rank better in search engines.

 

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The Top Five Best Selling Holiday Gift Items on Ebay 2011

Certain items are going to be really hot this year on Ebay. Which ones are going to be the best sellers of 2011? The items that are going to sell out are going to be in high demand on Ebay, and they might be fetching prices even higher than retail. Electronics have been really popular around the holidays for the past few years, and expect that trend to continue this year. The latest iPhone, the new Kindle Fire, and the Nintendo 3DS will be big sellers, there’s no question about that. While it’s hard to predict exactly which items are going to be the biggest hits, we have an idea. Let’s go over some of the most popular toys, electronics, phones, and fashion trends for the year that might influence what inventory you’re stocking for your Ebay auctions, store, or just for buying ideas for everyone on your list this holiday season.

Amazon Kindle FireAmazon Kindle Fire


The Kindle Fire is set to reshape the marketplace for eReaders and tablets. The biggest difference between this device and the iPad is the price. It can do virtually everything an iPad 2 can do, but it’s so much less money. Actually, it’s only $199 for an Amazon Kindle Fire direct from their website. That’s a huge price difference. You can still surf the web, and video streaming will be fast due to the sped up dual core processor.

The Kindle Fire will also include their Amazon Silk web browser, which promises to be fast and easy to use. There are millions of books you can download right from Amazon, and they’re all cheaper than buying a hard copy of the book.  The Amazon MP3 store has over 17 millions songs to download, stream, or listen offline.

One of the common complaints about tablets is that the screen can easily be scratched. Kindle Fire’s screen is chemically strengthened to be more durable and scrape resistant, so you won’t have to worry as much about the fragility of the device.

As a portable work device, the Kindle Fire will also allow you to read PDF docs on the go if you email them to yourself.

As the holidays approach, this item is sure to sell out on Amazon.com, and will be in high demand on Ebay. Those that have pre-ordered and plan to resell them could stand to make sizable profits once they do sell out.

Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS

Upon the release of the Nintendo 3DS, the reception was a little quiet. Now that new games are being released exclusive to the 3DS, especially some much anticipated titles like mega-hyped Super Mario 3D Land,
Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi’s Mansion 2, Star Fox 64 3D, the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Paper Mario 3DS, and Mario Kart 7, the excitement has begun!

The Nintendo 3Ds offers a unique depth slider, so you can control how “3D” the screen appears to you based on your preferences. No, this doesn’t require glasses to play either.

Buyers are sure to be looking for pre-owned Nintendo 3DS systems, though they’ll have trouble finding them. If the item sells out, they’re sure to be on Ebay searching for this new system. Also expect Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi’s Mansion 2, Mario Kart 7, and Ocarina of Time 3D to be huge sellers, potentially selling out for the season.

If you sell video games on Ebay, this might be a good item to have in stock to attract attention to your other items.

angry birds knock on woodAngry Birds Knock on Wood

Remember back in the day when we played Super Mario Bros, Pac-Man, Frogger, or Street Fighter and imagined how cool it would be to enact those characters in person? Angry Birds has made that vision a reality for kids, with the Knock on Wood game, and it’s a really cool concept. Just like the mobile game, you’ll construct a tower of wood or other materials in which the pigs will hide. It’s your job to destroy that tower with an actual bird slingshot. The special mission cards will instruct you on how to build the structure, to which you’ll try to topple it down.

This is already a big seller that should only continue to put up big numbers come the holiday season. Expect this one to get really hard to find, so check the current deals on Angry Birds Knock on Wood on Amazon as well.

Let's Rock ElmoLet’s Rock Elmo

Whenever a new Elmo electronic toy is released around the holidays, it’ has seemed to have created a frenzy unlike any other toy. The Let’s Rock Elmo has improved upon the simple “Tickle Me Elmo” of years ago, with more fluid motions, more fun songs (six rock songs), included musical instruments Elmo can play when placed in his hands, and additional toys he can hold like a guitar that are sold separately.

Reviews have been mostly positive for this toy, with 4.5 stars on Amazon. In terms of kids toys for preschoolers, this one will probably be their favorite toy. There’s also the LeapFrog LeapPad Learning Tablet which has generated a lot of buzz and garnered some excellent reviews from parents. This might be a cool educational alternative that might have them more stimulated in the long run (it’s for ages 4-8, however, making Elmo the better choice for kids under four).

ipod touchiPod Touch

With so much talk about tablets, it’s easy to forget that the iPod Touch is still in big demand. iPods have come a long way since they were simply storage and listening devices for your music. Today, you can take photos, chat with friends via the free iMessage service, take HD video recordings of you and your friends, and have access to half a million games. It’s a great way for kids and teens to stay entertained, listen to music, and have an all-in-one device that isn’t a cellphone.

The included iCloud service also allows you to keep all of your digital content (music, photos, documents) all in one place for easy access from anywhere. This is a nice touch (no pun intended), it solves the problem of having messy files all over your computer, and it’s free.

The iPod Touch has still been one of the top sellers on Ebay pre-holidays, so expect it to continue through the holiday season, as well as the iPhone 4 released in October.

Popular Clothing Brands in 2011

Brands that have been popular in 2011 include Lacoste, Burberry, Anthropologie, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci, Banana Republic, and Diesel.

For young kids and babies, the best sellers have been Gymboree, Ralph Lauren, Gap, Nike, Juicy Couture, and Janie and Jack.

As usual for the holiday season, expect sweaters, winter coats, fall/winter handbag fashion, jeans, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, and holiday dresses to lead the pack in terms of sales.


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How to Package Ebay Items

Package Your Ebay Items to Ship Safely, Securely and Quickly

Wondering how to ship your Ebay items, and package them correctly? This guide will walk you through the process of safely packing, preparing, and shipping your items for safe delivery to your beloved customers.

So, you’ve sold your item, the buyer has paid, the money has cleared, and now it’s time to ship your item. It’s your job as a seller to get the item to the buyer safely and intact. Most shipping breakages are caused by improperly packaged items. Do it the right way from the start and avoid headaches from buyer disputes and returns. This can cost you money and time. When a buyer opens the package, your making a first impression. Make it great and make them want to come back to your store.

Size Up Your Items, Charge The Right Shipping Rate

Before you even list your Ebay item, you’ll need a scale to find out the weight of the item when it’s packaged. Purchase a scale from USPS, or use your own mail scale to give an accurate weight. Ebay has a shipping calculator, which does not take into account extra charges like delivery confirmation, so keep that in mind. Build in enough of a cushion to cover your items, while still being competitvely priced in shipping. Also, keep in mind your cost of shipping — gas to deliver the items, bubble wrap, tape and peanuts all add up. You may want to add insurance as optional or required for your item, depending on the worth.

Pick the Right Size Box

After your item has sold, it’s time to ship it out fast so the buyer will give you some positive feedback. Take your items and place them inside a box that’s big enough for the items, but not so big that the items are floating around during shipping. USPS has a full range of free boxes for Priority shipping, a reliable service that usually only takes 3 days at the most anywhere in the United States. While you’re at it, you can ask the USPS to save good condition previously used boxes for you. They’ll gladly do so. Dumpster space costs money, and so does disposal, so you’d be saving them money.

packing ebay items

Place the items in a way that makes sense to ship out.If the items are small, package them two at a time, with the flattest sides facing each other.

bubble wrap

Take a piece of bubble wrap that adequately covers the entire surface of the items and wrap them up tightly. Tape it closed.

bubble wrap fragile items

Fold in the ends and tape it shut.

bubble wrap

Bubble wrap: you'll need plenty of this before you sell anything fragile on Ebay. Accept no substitutes.

Buy Bubble Wrap on Ebay.. It’s Much Cheaper

Bubble wrap is cheapest on Ebay. Don’t buy it in stores, buy it in bulk on Ebay and support a fellow seller. Many bubble wrap items on Ebay are also sold with free shipping, so it doesn’t even make sense to buy it anywhere else. You might even (slowly) rack up some Ebay Bucks.

Wrapping Your Items with Bubble Wrap

Bubble wrap is the preferred way to ship most items. Tear off a piece of bubble wrap that covers more than the surface of the item, and wrap the item as tight as possible around the item(s). Next, tape the bubble wrap to itself so it’s tightly wrapped around. Fold in the sides, and tape the sides closed. Use extra tape if necessary to protect any loose areas of bubble wrap.

Next, you’ll want to place your items in the box in a way that makes sense. Keep your items away from the sides of the box if possible to minimize damage. Place flat edges of items against each other during shipping. Fill the box with peanuts to the rim, and tape the top of the box securely (and the bottom! Use more than one piece of tape if the box is heavy!).

Also save your bubble wrap that you get from purchases that you make online. There are many places that throw away bubble wrap and packing peanuts, from post offices to grocery stores and malls. Check with them and they might have it for free.

packing peanuts

Fill the box entirely with packing peanuts to the rim.

fragile sign

Tape the box shut securely, and add a sticker to the box with the shipping address. Or alternatively, print out a label from USPS Click N Ship.

Attach a Label and Ship it Out

Next, attach the label to the top of the box. You can alternatively print your own label from USPS and get free delivery confirmation. Bring it into your USPS office and ship it out! Consider purchasing delivery confirmation, it’s worth every penny. If you decide to use UPS rather than USPS, they offer free tracking on all items. They also offer insurance for loss or damage on the first $100 and offer easy scheduled pickups, which is why many large sellers do choose to use UPS.

While You’re at the Post Office or Before Package Pickup

Once you’ve packed up your items, it’s time to drop them off to your local post office. If you’ve used the Click N’ Ship program to place labels on the boxes, this will save the USPS clerks a lot of time, and will save you money as well. In my experience, other customers can get irritated if you have a huge lot of items to ship out while they’re behind you waiting to buy some stamps. This in turn can get the clerk on edge, and that’s the last thing you want when they’re handling your items.

Placing all of the items in a large sac (they may allow you to borrow one at USPS) is one of the best ways to transport items from car to store. Give them a quick once over when you hand them to the clerk to make sure you’ve filled out everything correctly. Also, be sure to keep all of your USPS expenses tidy by using one credit card to track your purchases. Using a card over cash is recommended, since you’ll be protected by the credit card company if you need to dispute any charges. It will also neatly organize the expenses all on one card, so come end of the year, it can be pretty easy to add it all up. Keep the physical receipts as well, or print online and store for tax purposes.

Now That You’re Done With This Tutorial, Read These Other Ebay Guides:

  • How to Drive Traffic With Ebay Guides
    Ebay introduced Ebay Guides a few years back, a great resource for buyers, and a great opportunity for sellers. Ebay Guides are simply guides that Ebay users can create on any topic they wish. If you sell on…
  • How to Make More Money on eBay
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  • How to Increase Traffic to Your Ebay Store
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Why Aren’t my Ebay Auctions Making Money? 8 Quick Fixes

On Ebay, there are two types of sellers: those that know how to sell, and those that don’t. The good news is, it’s completely up to you which of these categories you fall into. If you’re Ebay sales are falling flat or just plain falling, it’s your auctions that are to blame. With some quick fixes, you can spruce up your auctions in no time and start increasing sales once again.

If you fall into the category of “not making money on your Ebay auctions”, read on and see if one or more of these reasons applies to you:

quick fix

1. Your Photo is a Mess.
Photos are necessary on Ebay. They’re what sell the item in the end, and what buyers expect to see… and plenty of them! No matter how small or cheap your item is, a great photo will enhance the auction. If you can’t take a good photo, learning a little Ebay photography is pretty easy. Just search “Ebay photography” on Google to find hundreds of help pages. The more photos in your auction, the more money you could potentially make.

2. The Description is Incomplete.
When buyers buy, they want to make sure they’re bidding on something they want. If you can’t describe the item, they can’t be sure what it is. Sometimes sellers (especially newbies) wrongly assume buyers will read between the lines, or assume the condition is obvious. That’s not how Ebay works. Give a robust, telling description that tells the buyer everything they need to know, soup to nuts. That includes the condition, the color, make, brand, model, anything included with the item, the working condition, the origin, interior features, exterior features, and the uses for the item. Or, you can stick with the terse descriptions and drive away buyers like the Bubonic Plague.

3. Your Shipping Costs Aren’t Competitive.
Shipping costs have become quite competitive on Ebay. Why? Buyers have demanded free shipping and lower shipping prices, and ecommerce has listened. This means higher shipping prices are really going to drive away potential buyers. Sure, it’s going to eat into your profits, but it’s going to keep you in the game. Find a way to get your shipping costs lower, whether that means offering free, slower shipping via UPS Ground or USPS Parcel Post, or factoring the shipping cost into the item price. Also, be sure to research your competitors to see what they are charging currently for similar items.

4. Your Feedback Score is Low.
On Ebay, your feedback score is like your license to sell. You want to keep that license at all costs, or you’ll be losing customers left and right! This can be done very easily. Like any retail business, the customer is always right. Even the most unreasonable questions, comments, and requests should be answered cordially. Sometimes the buyers that ask the most questions wind up purchasing the most, and really appreciate the time you take to answer their questions. They’ll also be the first to sing your praise in the form of feedback and DSR ratings (those star ratings that Ebay has). If your feedback score is low, don’t worry, you can improve it! Just keep selling, being honest, and keep shipping your items out fast. You’ll have your score back to near-perfect in no time.

5. The Market is Over Saturated.
Not all items sell on Ebay. In fact, most don’t sell, but Ebay still makes money on those items (while you lose money). Ebay encourages you to list, list, list every single item you have until it sells, no matter what. In reality, some research should be done prior to making big investments.

As you’ll find out with a little Ebay research, the marketplace can be very oversaturated in a certain niche. For example, Beanie Babies used to be all the rage on Ebay when the website was very young. Today, Beanie Babies aren’t nearly as possible as they once were, and the price of these collectibles has gone down considerably. If you were to enter the Beanie Baby field today as a seller, you would find far more competitors and probably a marketplace ripe with sellers, but rather dry in terms of buyers. Avoid this type of scenario all together and search completed listings and average selling prices on Ebay prior to making big inventory commitments and purchases, and find a fresher, less competitive niche that has buyers hungry for those items.

6. Your About Me Page is Flat.
The About ME page should be a confidence boost for buyers that you’re someone credible to buy from. It can contain information on your policies, what you sell, what discounts you offer, and your philosophy on selling on Ebay. There’s no limit to the length of this page, and you’re allowed 3 links on this page as well. Take advantage and point to your most attractive pages, whether it’s a clearance store page, free shipping offers, or just to your storefront. This page is where you should be gaining buyer’s trust, and getting rid of any doubts they might have about you as a seller.

7. Your Customers Are Afraid to Buy from You.
Just like the About ME page is a confidence booster, the auction should feel safe and trustworthy. Provide a guarantee to customers that the item is authentic, comes from a pet-free smoke free environment, and is completely brand new (or in whatever condition) and you’ll make customers feel much, much more comfortable to make a bid.

8. You Haven’t Filled Out the Item Specifics.
Underneath the gallery photo inside the item page, and above the description, there’s a box that states some of the item details. This is often the first thing buyers read as they enter your auction. If you’re not filling this out, you’re making a mistake! It’s also used to help sort your item in Ebay searches, so not filling it out can hurt you in valuable clicks. Ebay has made this box of item specifics easily scannable to buyers, so feel free to add your own item specifics in the “other” box. Buyers won’t spend long on your page, so if you can grab their attention quickly while they’re “above the fold,” you’ll have a better chance of getting them to bid or buy.

If you have all of these basics already done, then you should be on your way to making more money on Ebay.

Introduction photo of cassette tape by Ronald K on flickr.

You may also find the following posts helpful your business:

 

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Preparing Your Ebay Store for the Holidays

ebay holidaysEvery year, sales on Ebay, are at their highest between October-December. The buying crowd really gets into the mood to shop right before Thanksgiving, when sales can increase exponentially. There are a number of things you should do before the holidays to ensure your store is looking its best, and that you have everything your buyers are looking for.

Change the Look of Your Ebay Store

Buyers tend to purchase more under the pretense of the items being gifts. They might even be enticed to open their wallet a little bit further and buy something for another relative or themselves while they’re in the mood to purchase. Making your Ebay store and auctions as attractive as possible through clear descriptions, good photos, and an attractive layout will raise your chances of making some extra sales. An auction template might do the trick, but don’t pay for the templates Ebay offers for the listings. Those ones are a little outdated and tacky. Check Ebay auctions for custom made holiday graphics for your store, or if you’re a tech whiz, you might be able to install one yourself if you’ve purchased it outside of Ebay.

Entice Buyers to Your Ebay Store Through Your Auctions

Auctions are always the ultimate advertising tool to get buyers to your store. Make sure you’re utilizing them in the best way possible by making use of the loss leader method, with plenty of well placed links and banners in your ad pointing right to your Ebay store to buy the item right now.

Send Out Holiday Newsletters

Now is the time to capitalize on the email subscriber list you’ve created, assuming you have built one. The key here is to offer useful information and exciting deals in the newsletter. You could highlight a specific auction that you are starting for dirt cheap, tell them the benefits of the item, and mention some of the other new and consistent items you have in store. Reminding them of free shipping offers and reduced prices also goes a long way. You’ll want to create a great headline for your email newsletter, too, so it gets a decent “open” rate from your subscribers.

Check Out the Competition

The competition should always be on your mind, but during the holidays, it can be even more important. See what other sellers are doing to promote their items, what the prices are of similar completed items, and see what they’re doing different from you. Are you the clear winner in your niche, or are other people dominating you?

Go Heavy on the Buy-it-Now and Fixed Price Listings

Buyers don’t want to wait for auctions to end this time of year. That doesn’t mean you should abandon auctions, but you can add more fixed price and buy-it-now listings than you usually would. This works especially well for items you have multiples of.

Outside of Ebay Marketing Strategies

We’ve mentioned blogging several times on Web Ascension as a great way to market your Ebay items outside of Ebay. If you’ve already created a blog, continue to post, especially at times when buyers are known to be by their computers. You can schedule your posts in WordPress and on many other blogging platforms. If you don’t already have a blog about your Ebay niche or store, it’s a great time to start one. However, you may not see many of the benefits until next year’s holiday season.

Attract the Attention of Google to Your Store

There’s only a couple of things that really will attract Google to crawl your site. Besides having backlinks to your store, you’ll also need to have plenty of text and images on your store pages. This means taking advantage of the custom description fields, custom pages, about page, and your category pages. This doesn’t mean you should be keyword stuffing, but you should include as much text as you possibly can. Also be sure to interlink your custom store pages. You can try treating each page like its own specific landing page for the main categories of products that you sell.

Stock Up on Packing Supplies

The last thing you want to do is run out of boxes, tape, or packing peanuts. Stock up well in advance, and order free priority shipping boxes from USPS sooner than later.

Offer Fast Shipping – Express Mail

You’d be surprised how many people take advantage of Express Mail at the very last minute on Ebay. In the final two weeks before Christmas, you’ll see an influx of visitors scrambling to get their items in time for the holidays. If you can fulfill your end of the bargain and ship the item the same day or next day, buyers won’t let you down. Since this service starts at around $25, you’ll want to make sure the items you’re selling that offer express mail are high priced items.

What Else Can You Do to Prepare Your Ebay Store for the Holidays?

These other guides will help you boost traffic and make your auctions the best they can be for the holiday season:

 

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