In This Issue:
1. Top 5 tips to stop procrastinating
2. Store fees or Auction fees
3. Subscriber question answered!
4. "Visit Amanda's Blog!"
5. Tell us what you think.
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1)Top 5 tips to stop procrastinating
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FEATURE EDITORIAL
I was just bloggging the other day about how I never seem to write as many newsletters as I'd like to. It's not that I don't have loads of great ideas and tips to share, or that I don't want to. It just seems like I get one started and "stuff" just comes up, so they don't get finished. Sometimes, by the time I sit down and get back to it, what I started with seems outdated or irrelevant, so I need to start over again.
I have a small excuse at this present time, being about due to give birth to my third child, I am tired and I do have lots of other things to do, but still, there is no excuse for not putting 100% into your business - if you do truly want it to work. I want mine to, and if you are reading this you want yours to as well.
So how about some tips, to break out of the old procrastination rut.
1) Set some goals. I know it's a throw away line, but without knowing what exactly you want to achieve and in what time frame, how will you ever be able to able to get there?
Be as specific as you can be and write them down. It has been proven time and time again, that goals that are written down on a piece of paper have a much greater chance of being achieved than goals you just set in your head.
2) Break down larger goals into smaller "bite sized" pieces so that you can see that you are making progress towards what it is you want. Using me and my newsletter for example, I could say that I want to write a newsletter each month, but time will slip by and before I know it the month will come and go. If I change my goal to say that I want to write one section of the newsletter by each Friday, then I will have a much improved chance of successfully completing my task.
3) Be realistic with your time. There is no point trying to achieve what you can't fit into your schedule. By having realistic amounts of work and a more generous (but not TOO generous) time frame, you will get there.
4) Know when your best times are. If you are a morning person, try and plan things for the morning. If Friday is a distraction free day for you, try to set deadlines for yourself for that day, so you know that you will have the time to complete them.
5) Reward yourself when you do reach your goals/deadlines. It can be a tiny reward, if you have lots of smaller tasks and bigger rewards when you reach your larger goals. It can be as simple as a drink with a friend, or an hour of time out to curl up with a book. For your more major goals, the sky's the limit. There is no better person to work out an incentive for you than you!
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2) Store fees or Auction fees.
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I have spoken to a few people recently and the subject of where to list certain items comes up over and over again.
In the table below I have included the fees for listing, a gallery photo and the final value fee, if it was to sell for the opening bid price. Obviously many things can vary, this is just a basic guide line, to show the differences.
Amount |
Auction Total Fees |
Store Total Fees |
| $5.00 |
$1.15 |
$0.61 |
| $19.99 |
$1.94 |
$2.11 |
| $49.99 |
$3.94 |
$5.21 |
| $75.00 |
$6.03 |
$8.01 |
| $99.99 |
$6.68 |
$10.51 |
| $150.00 |
$9.09 |
$15.51 |
| $250.00 |
$11.84 |
$25.51 |
| $500.00 |
$19.72 |
$50.51 |
| $750.00 |
$26.59 |
$75.51 |
| $1000.00 |
$33.47 |
$100.51 |
| $5000.00 |
$93.47 |
$500.51 |
As you can see in most cases, the fees to sell something at auction is far cheaper than the sell within your store. However there are other things to weight up before deciding which method or blend of methods is best for you.
Auction Pros;
- Cheaper TOTAL fees for selling.
- Far greater exposure for your items.
Auction Cons;
- More expensive to list the item, in the first place - in most cases hugely more expensive than to list a store item.
- If you only run auctions, you can not organise the items the display in a way you prefer, meaning that buyers have to wade through all of your items, looking for what they want.
Store Pros;
- Cheaper to list slow moving items, that you don't know will sell everytime at auction.
- Professional image for you as a seller.
- Can arrange your items to make it easy for buyers to find what they are looking for.
- Meta tags for your items to be picked up by search engines.
- The ability to keep stock listed continuously with less work than running auctions.
Store Cons;
- Items do not show up in general searches, unless the general search brings back less than 10 auction/fixed priced results.
- Final Value fee of 10% - this is a killer on items you know can turn over quickly.
To make the most accurate decision in where to place your item, you need to look at your sell through rate to work out approximately how many times your item needs to be sent to auction on average before it will sell. Work out the listing fee to list it that many times at auction and then compare it to the store listing costs.
For me the combination of running both auctions and store inventory items, has proven time and time again to be the most effective. Particularly if you use some loss leaders on auction with lots of links to your store items.
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3) Subscriber question - from Jesse
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After my cry for questions in the last issue, I received an email from Jesse - www.geckogames.com.au which contained this question;
Any good, maybe unobvious, suggestions for standing out from the competition who sell identical products. Although a slightly cheaper price can win some customers, what other strategies can I consider?
There are loads of things you can do to make yourself stand out from the crowd, rather than just reducing your price.
Before I get into some practical solutions, lets just touch on why you shouldn't compete on price within the eBay environment. Experts say that you shouldn't just compete on price in any sales environment, but one thing that you will find in on eBay (and other auction sites) that really is unique is the amount of people who have absolutely no business experience at all. Yes, you will also find inexperienced vendors in the offline trading world, but due to the high start up costs, they are in the minority.
On eBay anyone with a few dollars on their pocket, can become a seller. EBay themselves plug the "get rich quick" angle in the media on a frequent basis. It is most people's first instinct when faced with competition the reduce their own price, to be cheaper. This in turn will make the next seller reduced theirs and soon enough, no-one can sell the item for a profit anymore.
Some sellers even foolishly think that they can run at a loss to squeeze out their competitors and then they can put up their prices and have the ebay market to themselves. Others just have no idea of the true cost of running a business and thus don't realise that they are not making any money at those prices, or worse are losing money.
One thing I have used to huge success in the past is use an image I have created for the gallery (thumbnail) image, instead of a photo of the actual product. I will use a brief slogan that tells buyers why my item, which is for all other practical purposes the same as all the others, is better or why they should buy from me. When buyers are scanning down the line is identical looking photos, a text graphic really does catch their eye, plus it gives them an instant reason why you are superior.
I try to use a difference that I personally feel is important to the buyers of that item. For example if all of the other sellers are from outside of Australia, I will use a slogan like "Save on duties - Item in Australia" or " Located in OZ for immediate shipment". If the other sellers are making profit on postage, I will use free or cheap postage as the slogan to bring them in.
Another thing to look at is how many photos you are adding to your listings. On eBay you will get charged AU$0.25c for each additional photo, creating the old catch 22 situation. You need more photos to sell your item, but when each one costs each your bottom line just starts slipping away.
If you haven't already read my guide on how to add as many extra photos as you like to your listings for free, please download a copy here I know it will help you saves loads.
If you didn't receive one of my previous mailings, then you may not know about my newest course, "Advanced auction marketing made simple". It contains in depth information about how to market your auction listings for maximum profit - all without lowering your price.
Thanks for your question Jesse - You will be receiving a copy of this course very soon for having your question published.
Do you have a question you would like answered?
Don't be shy, we are all learning all of the time, so all questions are worth asking. If your question is answered in an issue of my newsletter, you will also win a copy of the "Advanced auction marketing made simple" course.
Send your questions directly to me - amanda@helpmyauction.com and I will answer and publish one each newsletter.
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4) "Visit Amanda's Blog!"
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Check out "The Help My Auction Blog Spot!" with Amanda Callbutt
at: http://helpmyauction.blogspot.com/
Here Amanda shares her thoughts, ideas, insights, and
strategies with you, our customers and subscribers.
Every week, sometimes even a couple of times a week, Amanda shares...
1. Updates from the Help My Auction! website: What is
happening at HMA?
2. Cutting-edge industry updates: Every month Amanda meets
extremely successful online and offline business owners who are using
the hottest new moneymaking strategies and industry insights...
and now she'll be sharing them with you.
3. Announcements! Be the first to know about new courses and
resources, sometimes even BEFORE they have been created,
so you can beat your competition to the punch!
4. Amanda's personal opinion, thoughts, and insights on many
different auction site and e-commerce topics.
If you want to get to know Amanda and what is going on in the
day-to-day world of internet auction selling, then this is the place to be!
Go to: http://helpmyauction.blogspot.com/
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5) Tell us what you think!
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I would love to hear other people's views on the stars, or on anything else auction related. This issue has centered around eBay, but you can comment on anything you like.
Please send your comments, questions, and ideas for
upcoming issues to us at:
mail to:suggestions@helpmyauction.com
Your feedback matters to us!
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Regards,
Amanda Callbutt, CEO
Help My Auction!
Copyright 2005-2007 by Help My Auction!
All rights reserved.
www.helpmyauction.com
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