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The Secrets of Selling –
How To Get The Highest Possible Bids For Your Items

By John Reese

Now it’s time for things to get really exciting…

It’s to time to SELL something on eBay!

There is where the real FUN begins. It’s a lot of fun to create an auction and watch a bunch of people place their bids for a chance to buy your item.

But before you go and just start an auction on eBay to try and sell something you really need to learn the basics for getting the highest possible bids.

There are FOUR major things that will have the most effect on the success of your auctions. Let’s go over each one in detail.

1. USE THE PROPER CATEGORY

In order for people browsing eBay to even FIND your auction you are going to have to place your item in the proper category of eBay’s site.

As you already know if you’ve had a chance to browse eBay’s site — it’s *HUGE*!

So in order for people to be able to find your “needle in a haystack” the first step is to make sure you list your item in the proper category.

The best to do way this is to do some searches (as we explained in Part 3 of this mini-course) and…

FIND SIMILAR ITEMS TO YOURS

Find out what categories other people have listed their similar item under and see if they are getting a lot of bids and are selling for prices that you’d be happy to sell yours for.

One of the biggest MISTAKES people selling on eBay make is listing their item in the wrong category. If you list your item in the wrong category you are already shooting yourself in the foot. You are going to cost yourself money and your item is not going to sell for as much as it could have.

So do some research first. Look around on eBay and find items that are similar to what you want to sell. Make notes on what categories they are listed under. If their auctions are successful then you will definitely want to “follow their lead” and list your item under the same
category. It’s just that easy! Let other people show you what
category will bring top dollar.

If you cannot find any items that are similar to what you want to list then you will just have to do your best to find an appropriate category.

2. CREATE AN EFFECTIVE TITLE

When people are browsing the category where you item is listed they will be exposed to the TITLE of your listing. You must have an effective title in order to get people to “click” on it so they will see your auction — and have a chance to place their bid.

The key to writing an effective title is to write the most DESCRIPTIVE sentence you can in the few characters that you are allowed (about 50 characters).

Don’t fall into the trap of using unprofessional techniques like “L@@K” and other excessive uses of exclamation points.
These “tricks” don’t get more people to click on your auction, they make people run the other way. So make sure your title is to the point and accurately describes the item you wish to sell.

The other major key for creating an effective title is to create it using words that someone might be searching for if they are interested in your item. When someone uses the little “search” box on eBay’s site they will see your title in a “results” page if the word or phrase they searched for is contained in your auction title.

So you need to fill your title with as many words that someone might search for if they are looking for your item.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say we want to sell a cute little studded dog collar.

We could have the following title for this auction:

“Cute Studded Dog Collar That Will Fit Most Dogs”

That’s not a bad title. But here’s how we can change it to get more people exposed to it:

“Studded Dog Collar - Great For Pet’s Custom Tag”

At first glance this title might seem almost “silly” or redundant. Afterall, it seems almost stupid that we would mention that the dog collar has something to do with the tag
– everyone alreadys knows the dog collar carries the dog’s tags!

So why in the world would we include this in our auction title?

It’s simple, yet very POWERFUL, actually.

In our first example, our auction would come up if someone were searching for either “dog” or “dog collar”.
There really isn’t much else someone would be searching for that would allow our listing to come up.

Now let’s look at our second title. Our listing will come up if someone searches for any of the following:

1. dog
2. dog collar
3. pet
4. tag
5. custom tag

Can you see now why our second title is much better? We can now have our listing exposed to anyone that is searching for any of those terms.

AND… anyone that might be searching for something related to just “tags” is also a really good potential buyer for a collar to carry those tags — even if they didn’t search for a collar!

So it helps to get a little creative when creating your titles. Think of all the things that your item relates to and try to create the best title that will include many things someone might be searching for — even if it isn’t a term that describes your exact item (like in our collar example and the term “tag”).

3. HAVE A DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the “Description” section of your auction listing it’s very important that you include as much information as you can about your item.

The more you can tell someone about your item, the better.

Make sure you accurately describe its condition, what “model”
it is, and so on.

You will need to be HONEST when describing your item. If it has some minor scratches, say so. Your potential bidders will appreciate your honesty and feel good about doing business with you.

There’s nothing more that potential bidders hate than when someone has an auction where they don’t say much about the item. It only leaves people to wonder…

WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE?

If you don’t say enough about your item you will scare away potential bidders.

So say as much as possible in your description.

You will also want to include as many words and phrases related to your item in your description, because the people that do use the “search titles and descriptions” option that we talked about in Part 3 of this mini-course will be able to find your listing from the words you use in your description.

So extend what you just learned about writing an effective title - be creative and use phrases and descriptions related to what someone might be searching for.

4. USE GREAT PHOTOS

Since you are selling something through an online auction and your potential buyers cannot actually pickup and hold the item in front of them, you will need to use the best possible photos that you can of your item.

Your photos are the only *real* association your potential buyers have with what you are trying to sell. So your photos are VERY important.

Use multiple photos and angles.

Many people make a BIG MISTAKE by only including one photo of their items. The more photos you can show people, the better.

You should take multiple angles of your item — a front view, a top view, a side view, and maybe even a close-up as well as a “wide” shot.

So make sure you use the best possible photos of your item since that is what many buyers will use to make a decision on whether they will bid on your item or not.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!

That’s a basic foundation of the things you need to keep in mind when you go to sell something on eBay. If you pay attention to these four things you will increase the number of bids your items receive, and you will ultimately sell your items for much more than you would have without focusing on these techniques.

CONGRATULATIONS

You now know more than 90% of people that are trying to sell things on eBay!

But I will be completely honest with you.

If you are really serious about making money on eBay I can teach you all of my techniques and SHOW you how you can *really* make a lucrative income from online auctions.

I recently created a powerful 2-Hour Video that will do just that.

All you have to do is pop it into your VCR or DVD player and sit back and watch exactly how it’s done.

The video covers the entire process (from A-To-Z) and explains everything. So it doesn’t matter if you are an absolute BEGINNER or you already have experience selling on eBay.

The video will start from the very basics (assuming you know nothing) and then explains every single step of how to make money.

Here’s what one of my recent “students” had to say after watching the video:

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“Dear John,

I had spent several months browsing online auctions and even trying to sell a few things on eBay. I knew there had to be a way to make good money with these auctions, but I just couldn’t figure out exactly how to do it. I had no idea how “wrong” I was in my approach to try and sell things through online auctions. Your video taught me so much I didn’t know.
It really showed me the “light” and allowed me to clearly see how to make quick profits. Your video will pay for itself 1,000 times! Thank you!

Wesley Spencer
Newton, North Carolina

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You can learn more out this Auction Secrets video:

“How I Made A $38,450.27 PROFIT From *ONE* Auction!”

Take my word for it when I say there’s no better way to make a living than having FUN from home with online auctions!

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About the Author:

John Reese has been actively involved with online auctions and eBay since 1996. Mr. Reese has written several articles on the subject and has recently created the “Internet Auction Secrets” Video for teaching others how to start, run, and manage a successful online auction business from home.

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