Auction Analysis Pro

Go to http://www.ebay.com and register as an eBay user.
Bid and buy on eBay to get experience as an eBay user. This strategy will help you understand how the buyer thinks and influence the way you set up your eBay listings.
Read our eBook titled "The eBay Appetizer," included in the training center.
Create an eBay seller's account.

How does bidding and buying on eBay help me become a better seller?

This exerpt is from our eBook, titled "The eBay Appetizer," found in the training center:

"Get inside the bidder’s head by becoming a bidder. I gained valuable insights about selling by finding out what it’s like for a bidder to search for items, make bids, win auctions, and wait for products to arrive.

This week, take some time to shop for a few things you want. As you shop, keep notes:

What was it like to enter the first search keywords? How did you actually end up finding the items you were looking for?
Which items drew your attention first? Why?
Of the items that represented the best buy for the highest quality, what made the quality seem higher? The pictures? The presentation? The wording?
After you have won auctions, what did the sellers do that made the auctions a good experience? Did the sellers do anything that was annoying or that seemed unprofessional?

Later, when you list your first items for auction, you can use your research notes to help boost your chances of selling and getting positive feedback from your customers."

Why is eBay feedback important?

This exerpt is from our eBook, titled "The eBay Appetizer," found in the training center:

"Popularity contests aren’t only for high school. Each time you buy or sell on eBay, you will earn more feedback. If all the feedback is "positive," other buyers and sellers will see you as a reliable eBay user. The higher your feedback rating, the more attracted bidders will be to your auctions. If you have "negative" or "neutral" feedback, other users will see you as unreliable and they won’t want to do business with you. "

How do I find products to sell?

This exerpt is from our eBook, titled "The eBay Appetizer," found in the training center:

"For your first auctions, find items that won’t cost you a lot of money. This presents two obvious options: sell something you already own or purchase an item at a deeply discounted price.

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure. Look around your house for items that you don’t want anymore, but that someone else might. For example, I had a laptop with a bad hard drive. But the screen, power supply, battery, and other parts still worked. I didn’t want to repair the laptop and I didn’t need its other parts anymore. But this kind of “trash” is considered “treasure” to some eBay shoppers.
Shopping Outlets. I bought the first item I sold at a manufacturer’s outlet. I bought a few candles for a significantly reduced price and sold them for twice what I paid for them.
Mom Lied When She Said Generic Was Just as Good. The product research I did, using Auction Analysis Pro, told me that a specific brand of candles was much more likely to sell than other brands. When I put that brand up for sale, I sold that item even though I had a zero feedback rating. Evidently the bidders felt that the brand name and the low price were good enough to take a chance on someone without a rating.

The importance of brand names is true of more than just candles. The brand matters just as much as the type of item. When you find the right brand, you increase your chances of selling. "

Above all, get creative. Also, visit the training center to find out how to use Auction Analysis Pro to figure out which of the products you find are likely to sell well.

How can I figure out what my profit is likely to be?

Use Auction Analysis Pro, together with FeeFinder, to find out what your profit is likely to be. Auction Analysis Pro can help you determine what your selling price and success rate is likely to be. Then, FeeFinder will help you find all your listing, payment, and shipping fees in one convenient place.

To calculate your anticipated profit, subtract the amount the product cost you, plus the auction fees (listing, payment, and shipping) from the anticipated sales price.

Visit the training center for more information.

Is there a way for me to easily figure out my listing, shipping, and payment fees all at once?

Yes. FeeFinder calculates multiple and single listing fees, as well as payment fees (such as PayPal), and shipping fees.

Visit the training center for more information.

What are some good listing layout and presentation strategies?

This exerpt is from our eBook, titled "The eBay Appetizer," found in the training center:

"When it comes to auctions, perception is everything. If you came across two sellers who were auctioning the product you wanted and each was priced the same, how would you choose which one to buy? What if one auction looked professional, as though it were being run from a store or by someone who knew what they were doing, while the other looked like it were being run by someone who is just getting rid of some junk around the house?

"The truth is that the one that looks like it’s being run from a store may really be run from someone’s home. The difference is in perception. It’s in the way the seller stages the auction. Professional presentation makes an item seem higher quality, even though it’s the same product at the same price.

"What makes a professional presentation? Since I’m a professional writer and editor, I have a slight advantage in this area. Here are some rules of thumb:

Pictures: The quality of the picture of the item you are selling will probably affect the way bidders perceive your auction more than anything else.
Text: Make the body text all one size and one color&emdash;and resist the temptation to make all the text uppercase. Also, be straightforward and precise. The less people have to read to get to the nitty-gritty details, the better.
General Appearance: Choose colors that are appropriate for the item you are selling. For example, if you are selling binoculars, don’t choose a pastel color (like pink, mint, or lavender) for the background. Those colors will work well, however, for items like body care products.

"To create a professional-looking picture, take the picture against a plain, perfectly white background. Then, use a photo editor to erase the background completely. This way, you end up with a picture of the item you are selling without any distractions."

Visit the training center for more information.

Auction Analysis Pro (DA)

What is Auction Analysis Pro?

Auction Analysis Pro is a software tool designed to help you research statistics about eBay auctions. You can use this information to develop successful auction strategies, such as the best starting price, the best day to begin and end a listing, the products that are most likely to sell, keywords to use in the listing title, categories to list your auction in, and much more.

To purchase Auction Analysis Pro, click here. For more training information, visit the training center.

How can I use DA to find out which products are likely to sell?

Deciding what to sell is every seller's burning question. Even if you already sell a successful product on eBay, it’s worthwhile to explore new products, because what’s hot today may be luke-warm tomorrow. Keeping your ear to the ground (i.e., constantly researching) helps you identify selling trends on eBay.

To use Auction Analysis Pro to help you decide what to sell:

Click the Category List button for a list of eBay categories. Hunt the categories for sub-categories that might contain products you would be interested in selling.
When you find a sub-category you want, enter the category number in the eBay Category Number field (in Auction Analysis Pro) and click the Start button.
Browse through research on several sub-categories to identify new product opportunities.

Review the Report Tab

The Report tab provides an overview of the whole category. A small listing category could be a great place to get a foothold in a new market, while large categories represent an opportunity to find products in significant demand.

Review the Auctions Tab

Use the Auctions tab to find items with higher-than-average selling prices. The Listing Category 2 column suggests additional related categories for you to research.

Periodically review auctions on eBay.com through the Auctions tab. Pay special attention to examples of cross-selling and up-selling to get ideas for new items to add to your product line.

Visit eBay’s Seller Central

Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.phpl on eBay’s Seller Central. The Merchandising Calendar gives you a heads-up about what product categories they are going to spotlight throughout their site and when.

For example, since eBay plans to advertise their costume category for children, adults, and pets as October approaches, you may want to begin planning now to have some Halloween costumes for pets ready for auction.

Then, there's the Hot Items link. Here, eBay reveals the items that are receiving the most attention right now. You might look into selling the same items, or look for related items that may be part of a new trend.