When i'm looking for a specific item i'll type combinations of keywordsinto the search bar. For example I recently searched
for a Thomas TheTank Engine Bean Bag Chair. Rather than type in that whole sentence Iwould type in 'Thomas Chair' then i'd do another search for 'ThomasBean Bag' then i'd do another one for 'Thomas Beanbag chair' etc. Evenif 4 products are exactly the same the individual sellers may usetotally different keywords in their item title so I research as much aspossible and generally i'll go for the one where the seller has putless effort into the auction title and description. More often than nota poorly and sloppily written listing will reach a lower end price thana well written listing. Photos have the same effect, if not more so. Arubbish picture of a fantastic item will put no end of people offbidding.I've become an expert with regards to keywords. Misspelt items are a favourite for hunting out. Search for Scoobydoo instead ofScooby Doo and sometimes you'll come across a little gem of a
bargain.One purchase which instantly comes to mind is the iRobot DVD I bought.It was spelt with a number 'one' before the Robot rather than the letter 'i'. Well if sellers are gonna be sloppy with theirlistings it suits me fine so long as I can keep benefiting from theirlaziness.I like to take my chances with newbie zero rated sellers. A lot ofeBayers don't bid on
auctions by zero rated newbies. Suits me fine asit means i'll hopefully bag another bargain. Hey there's nothing wrongwith buying a low priced item off a newbie. If they turn out to berip-off merchants you can always open an eBay or Paypal dispute againstthem. I'll take my chances if it means I may get a bargain thankyouAfair amount of eBay sellers also put potential customers off bidding ontheir auctions by using the following phrase 'i'm not responsible foritems lost/damaged in post' Lots of regular eBay forum members refuseto buy anything from a seller who washes their hands of allresponsibility the minute the item is at the post office. You see theseller is actually FULLY RESPONSIBLE for items until the buyer receivesthem safely and soundly.Howdo you make your fortune out of something which rarely sells for even99p? It's all in the power of marketing. Exploit certain product wordsand leave them open to more than one interpretation. Exaggerate thegreatness of something even if you think it's carp. Example, i've justsold a Madonna CD called Music. This CD rarely sells for even 99p asno-one wants it, it's a rubbish album and there's far too many of themlisted on eBay. So how did I sell mine for £5.50 with £1.99 postage?Easy!! No-one else had bothered to market the CD as being a SpecialLimited Edition which included not one but TWO cds, one of which was apink coloured cd and contained a video and loads of remixes. So with acarefully thought out auction title consisting of good keywords itattracted more potential customers than this CD would normally attract,plus by pointing out what everyone else had omitted it made my MadonnaCD look quite unique (even though it's as common as muck in reality)Oh impulse buyers are fab andthere are so many of them. I've only recently started using the Buy ItNow (known as BINs) feature to sell items and i've gotta admit it'smuch better than putting your item up for auction half the time. Ofcourse it depends what the item is as to whether it'd be better on aBIN or an auction, but with things such as board games and PS2 gamesi've had much more success and made more money with BINs than Iwould've done if it'd gone through auction. With BINs you can afford toask for more money than you really think you should be asking for youritem. I just sold a used Yahtzee boxed game for £4.99 (BIN) with anextra £2.50 postage. At auction i'd have been lucky to get £3.50 forit. But when people want something immediately rather than wait a fewdays for an auction to finish they're usually willing to pay that bitextotential buyer has plenty oftime to ummm and aaah about what they're willing to pay and whetherthey really want/need the item. With a BIN all it can take is 5 secondsof impulsive madness and they've gone and bought it before reallythinking about it. I also try to undercut other BINs by 25/50p so mineis the best BIN deal to go for.I'm notexperienced in this area as I don't sell the high value items thatthese suckers waste their money on. These suckers are the ones whothink eBay is always the cheapest place to buy all items from andbelieve everything they see to be a bargain. It doesn't cross theirnaive minds that the item may be available elsewhere for a much cheaperprice, they just don't bother to check. Mobile phones and MP3s (to namejust 2 products) have been known to fetch a higher price when sold 2ndhand on eBay than it would cost to buy a brand new and boxed one fromelsewhere. The sellers of these items must be rolling around cryingwith laughter. What an easy profit they must make.The full article can be found here http://searchwarp.com/swa27581.htm