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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05
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Last Post Mar 5, 2007 11:03 AM by: deirdre@ebay.com
Replies: 46
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deirdre@ebay.com
Posts: 3,846

Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Feb 27, 2007 1:23 PM
Topic: Member Workshop: You Don't Need Funny-Looking Pants to Make Great Money on eBay - You Just Need Market Research

Host: htdeepanalysis
Date: Monday 03/05
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pacific time
Location: Workshop Board

Description: Please join Jen Cano, from HammerTap, a Certified Solution Provider, as she uncovers the ultimate way to find out how to sell on eBay. You might not know anything about golf clothes, clubs, or bags--or a myriad of other products. But that won't stop you from making great money selling. The secret is in knowing what sells and how to sell it. And the journey to those answers is surprisingly simple. Come find out how to discover the most profitable products...the lazy man's way!

Cheers,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:13 AM

No Need for Funny-Looking Pants—Just Market Research


You might not know anything about golf clothes, clubs, or bags--or a myriad of other products. But that won't stop you from making great money selling. The secret is in knowing what sells and how to sell it. And the journey to those answers is surprisingly simple.

Hi, eBay sellers! I'm Jen Cano with HammerTap, an eBay Certified Solution Provider. Keep reading and you'll learn how to use market research to learn more about what makes eBayers buy your products—even if you don’t know a lot about them.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:13 AM
You've got an eBay business. If you sell products on eBay, it's your business. And the primary ways to increase ANY business' success are:

1. Sell Your Product at a Higher Price
2. Sell More Often

Let's see how each of these fundamentals of business success impact your eBay business success.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:14 AM
Sell Your Product at a Higher Price
Think about the last thing you sold on eBay. How much did you sell it for? More importantly, how much of that money did you get to keep? It's profit, not sales price, that ultimately matters.

It's easy to get in the trap of thinking about increasing the closing price of your eBay listings. But even if you're selling snow in Alaska, you've got costs and expenses. Unless you're just cleaning out your house of things you don't need anymore, you'll have to buy the product you want to sell. No matter which product you sell, you have to value the time you (or someone else) spends listing, packaging, and shipping it.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:14 AM
You have costs you probably can't reduce below a certain level (shipping, packaging, inventory).

Profit = (Selling Price) – (Cost to Sell the Item: including Inventory Cost)

If you can't reduce the cost to sell your product, the only way to increase your profit is to increase the selling price.

So how do you do it when the buyer “controls” the price they pay? How do you increase the closing price of your eBay listings by 10%, 20%, and sometimes even 50%? Let’s figure it out with market research.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:15 AM
First of all, you've got to make sure you've got a product that's in high demand.

Let's use the HammerTap market research tool to compare two items we might want to sell on eBay. Let's say we have found a great source for golf clubs at deep discount. A golf store is closing everything out. Or, a drop-shipper you know of bought an entire semi-truck load of golf club sets. They just want to clear them out, so they offer you any set of golf clubs for $200.

The illustrations below show for how much you can expect to sell Nike and Ping golf club sets.







From the data shown above, we see that Nike golf club sets sell for more than Ping golf club sets. To be exact, on average, you'll get $25.52 more. Whether or not you know anything about golf, you now know you can expect to sell Nike clubs for more.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:15 AM
That was simple. With our market research tool, it took about two minutes to determine how much more we can make on a product than we can get it for. That’s the first hurdle. (See, I told you it’d be simple!)

But, we can’t stop there. Now let's figure out how much money you'd get to keep in both cases. Let's say your drop-shipper source for the clubs charges $25 for shipping and handling. Now let's compare profit.


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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:16 AM
We got just $25.52 more by selling Nike instead of Ping golf clubs. On a large purchase like this, it doesn't sound like that much. That is, until you calculate your net profit. Selling Nike golf clubs instead of Ping increased your net profit from $37.36 to $62.88, a whopping 68% increase in profit!

I know I haven’t revealed anything earth-shattering here. I just want to draw your attention to a fact that’s often ignored. The profit increase isn’t calculated as $287 vs. $262. The decision is based on $62 vs. $37.

This difference, although simple, will help you simplify selling decisions later in this process.

Follow along and I’ll show you what I mean…
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:16 AM
Sell More Often
Now let’s take a look at the flip side of this coin. As you already know, the other way to make more is to sell more often. Let's look at the same example we did before from the perspective of whether listings of Nike or Ping golf clubs sell more often.







Wow! Selling Ping golf clubs, we're more than twice as likely to sell than with Nike clubs.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:17 AM
Balancing Net Profit and Listing Success Rate
Decisions, decisions… what do I sell?

Earlier we saw we make $25.52 more money selling Nike golf clubs over Ping clubs. But we will only sell them about half as often (67.29% success rate for Ping, 32.71% success rate with Nike).

So what's this mean to you? Which should you sell in this case?

Tell me what you think. Which one should you sell for the most profit over time? (Don’t peek at the next post until you’ve made your gut choice.)
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:18 AM
Profit in the Long-Run
Let’s figure out our long-run profit. Here are some calculations to consider, based on 100 sales. I’ve got a formula that will change your perception of your profit potential for a product. I call it the “Profit-Over-Time” formula.

Profit-Over-Time Formula:
(# of sales) x (profit$) x (chances of selling)

Nike: (100) x ($62.88) x (32%) = $2012
Ping: (100) x ($37.36) x (67%) = $2503

After 100 sales, we’ll make around $500 more with Ping than with Nike. We couldn’t have guessed that without going through this process.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:19 AM
Business Intelligence vs. Product Knowledge
What a difference a few minutes of informed decision-making makes! Your knowledge of the product doesn’t have to be perfect for you to know exactly how to sell it.

Don’t get me wrong. Personal interest in a product always gives a little zing to your sales copy. And knowledge of the product is valuable. The point is that you don’t have to be a product expert to know your buyers’ habits.

Here's where many online sellers miss out. They believe they must have in-depth product knowledge to pick a winner. You don't. I don't have to know a thing about golf to know whether I can make more money on Nike or Ping golf club sets.

What I'm saying is I don't have to know why Ping sells better, I just have to know that it does. And, I know how they sell better. Those are the things I really care about when it comes to sales.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:19 AM
Save Yourself Some Time
If you're like most of us, you're busy. You don't have time to become an expert in golf clubs to make an extra $25.52 more on an eBay listing. Your time is certainly worth something.

But, research will help you make the most of your time. When you spend less time deciding what to sell on eBay, you can spend more time doing what matters most to you. You'll be confident in the knowledge that you've done everything you can to reduce your risk and squeeze the most profit out of your eBay selling efforts.
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htdeepanalysis
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:19 AM
What Else Can eBay Market Research Tell Me?

I hope you’ve learned a lot about how to decide which listing features will work for you. In addition to helping you figure out features, HammerTap can also give you the Power to Profit by helping you make educated decisions about:

- What Sells and for How Much
- Successful Title
- Best Auction Type For Your Products
- Best Listing
- Which Listing Features Improve Your Chance to Sell and Which Increase the Closing Price
- Optimal Start Price to Use
- Best Day of the Week to Start and End Your
- Seasonal Trends
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deirdre@ebay.com
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Member Workshop: You Just Need Market Research to Make Money on eBay-03/05

Mar 5, 2007 8:28 AM
Hi everyone:

We've posted the workshop material a bit early to allow you to read through the information.

We'll be back at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to open the workshop for questions and comments.

Thanks,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development
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