 |
|
Welcome to the Wholesale Forums!
You are currently viewing the Wholesale Forums as a guest, which means you
can read the discussions, but you cannot post. To post, you can join
the Wholesale Forums as a member. It's quick, easy,
and best all it's FREE — so today!
Are you already a member? Login here to post.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
wartimethings
Nov 19, 2007, 1:54 PM
Post #2 of 2
(1463 views)
Shortcut
|
Hi Kari,
I just had to comment on this one. I came in through the article based upon smaller priced items in the eBay marketplace.
Becoming a power seller is not the only objective when selling on eBay. The sales of a smaller item, while not really profitable, can help a seller in other ways. You've got to look at long term as well as short term.
Take my business for example. I sell P-38 Can Openers on eBay. For those of you who don't know what a P-38 is, it's the G.I. Can Opener which was issued along with the old C-Rations until the MRE's (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) came out. Now they are issued by the government during disasters on a smaller scale but sold more as a novelty item in the marketplace. While the cost is low on the front end (actual cost of product), along with the shipping of the products to my business, cost of envelopes, cost of postage, cost of tape, cost of paper, cost of ink (I'll tell you why in a moment), plus the overall cost of the trip to the Post Office to mail the shipment off, I average about $.02 profit per P-38.
You may say, Dan, that's not worth the effort. Well, I have to totally disagree with you. There are two long term benefits. One, the overall sale of 500 P-38's would bring me in $10.00 worth of profit. Ok. So I may not see that all at once but I have another benefit.
If you pay close attention to the rules and regs of eBay, you will notice that eBay offers a contingency for more information about your product within the description area of the auctions. In these rules, it is stated, you may offer outside links to give the customer more information about the product, more information about your policies, or even allow for more images. It just so happens that my policies link in my auctions go to the policy page of my website. Now, I'm sure that some of those customers become curious when they see my policy page wondering what other magical items I may have for their possession.
And it doesn't end there. There are links to other businesses my company owns on the website. Call it the trickle effect. But the main thing to remember is, that while you are referring people to your policies for the proper use of eBay, you will still see an extra benefit. Face it, the only reason eBay tells people that they shouldn't buy outside of eBay is to control the marketplace. If people are visiting online businesses outside of eBay, that's less fees they will collect. An enterprising entrepreneur will be able to utilize everything to his/her advantage.
Now, let's get to the matter about paper and ink. When you ship a small object in a standard envelope, you've got to prevent it from shifting within the envelope. The more it shifts, the more damage the envelope takes. This looks unprofessional and shabby. So you've got to tape the item down. Right? Well, you can't tape it to the inside of the envelope. Again, this would be shabby. So you grab the nearest piece of paper to tape the item to.
Why not take advantage of the piece of paper you are sending? On this paper, you can have your very own advertising. Be it a sale, more information, or whatever you want to include in that letter, it will open the customer's eyes to the thought that there is life outside of eBay. We use the letter to take the opportunity to tell the customer a little bit more about our operations and other websites. Also, there are references as to why they should choose my business to purchase from. Security, low prices, fast shipping, humble customer service... the whole enchilada. Note that there is nothing eBay can do about this type of correspondence since the customer is yours now. So basically, you are making money to send an advertisement.
We also use tags on our products to direct the customer to a possible sale. If we step outside of the box and sell something larger (clothing for instance), you've got to have tags which give information for your purposes such as stock number, size, description, etc. Why bother purchasing a million tags to receive a bulk discount? Use the perforated edged business cards and make up your own tags. A basic hole puncher can help you with your tagger tail gun to make it neat and professional looking.
All in all, I can expect an average sale from the eBay experience to occur on my business websites in the $175.00 range. Just because you sell on eBay doesn't mean you have to limit yourself. Through proper marketing, you can turn any situation into a win-win situation. So you see, not only will I have the sales from the P-38's profits to count on over an extended period of time, but will also have other revenue coming in at the same time from a small item with a $.02 profit.
So find your marketing niche. Then find your niche within your niche which won't break the bank and will actually bring profits into your grasp. Selling small is definitely worth the time and effort.
Dan
|
|
| |
| | |
|
Share This:
What Are These?
|
Forum
Search the
Who's
Log
Sign
