Hi! I'm Debbie Levitt, President of As Was. I'm here today to discuss eBay listing strategies. If you attended my strategy class at the 2007 eBay Live! convention, some of this may look pleasantly familiar!

First, lets look at auctions vs. fixed price in the Core. What's the Core? It's the traditional listings you put up that aren't Store items... auctions, Dutch auctions, fixed price listings, and multiple quantity fixed price listings.

Items that may have better results as auctions include hot items (the latest video game system), rare items (collectibles), or items when you are comfortable letting the market decide (diamond engagement rings, famous brand handbags).

Items that may have better results as fixed price listings include commodities (cell phone cases), items whose prices are easily compared to prices in local stores, and items when people may just want it now and not care to play a bidding game.

If you've found that it doesn't work in the Core, and I've just said that maybe it doesn't go in the Store, where does it go? Are there really items that you shouldn't list on eBay at all? I think that these items generally should not be listed on eBay:

Items that failed over and over in the Core, which is usually because nobody is searching for them

Items that research (like Terapeak) shows do not sell well

Items where competition may be so fierce that you rarely sell and/or can't make a profit

Items where you might be competing with your supplier

For example, let's say you found a product from a popular drop shipper. You might do research and find that you not only have competition from other people using that drop shipper, but maybe you also have competition from people who get the product higher in the food chain than your drop shipper. I've seen this! I've seen a drop shipper offer subscribers a kitchen appliance for $160. I searched for the product on eBay, and found people selling them for $160. Some of them were using the drop shipper and evidently don't mind losing money on a sale. But some said they were authorized sellers of that product, which means they probably got it from a distributor or the manufacturer... which means they paid less than $160 to get it... which means they make money on a $160 sale and you don't!

That's a good example of an item I probably wouldn't bother listing on eBay at all. Doing the right research ahead of time can help you make that decision.

Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was
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Start, market, & improve your eBay sales.

What do you really know about your shopper? Do you know when she's visiting your items? What is he searching for in your eBay Store? Our new web-based tool, EverySeller Reserach, tracks your listings and Store, and then can run reports on what your shopper is doing. Here are some examples:



This shows visits to your listings by the hour of acertain day. If you find that a lot of your action is coming at 2am on a Tuesday, try listing things to end 3am on Tuesday! You'll be at or towards the top of search results when people seem to be looking for your item.



This shows what people are doing in the Core when they find your listings. In this case, they are browsing eBay's "Men's Shoes" category and searching for certain keywords.



This report shows what's going on in your Store. You'll see how many visits your Custom eBay Store pages are getting, your About Me, and you'll even see what people search for in your eBay Store... even if you don't have that item! Our reports that show keywords and phrases that people searched can help you know what terms to make sure you have in titles. But in this report, seeing what people searched for (that you may not carry) can give you ideas of what products to consider adding. If the demand is there, it could work!

EverySeller Research (ESR for short) is 1 cent for the first month, and then $27/month (flat) after that. We have a webinar on how to install it, but we'll even help you install it for free... just contact support if you need help.

Let's have your questions!

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Hi, Laura_Clark. I'm not totally sure of your question, but I'll try to help!

If there are 5 available for $179.99 each, it might be a fixed price multiple quantity listing. That's BuyItNow only, and no bidding. This is a good strategy when people tend to know the price on it, and it's not SO hot or SO rare that people are likely to bid up a price. They want it now at the right price.

If there is bidding with a quantity of 5, then it's called a Dutch auction.

You can run auctions, Dutch auctions, and fixed price multiple quantity without opening a Store. So you don't need to consider that when choosing a Store.