Make Money on an Auction

Step #2 - Get Started!

Net Auctions attract a gigantic volume of potential customers who are actively searching for what they want. That's the best kind of traffic.

Of course, there are lots of OTHER sellers competing with you for the attention of all those eager buyers. How can you stand out from the crowd and draw surfing eyeballs to YOUR product or service?

Write powerful ads or listings.

In the auction biz world, they are known as listings.

Your goal as a seller is to sell your items for the highest possible price. A strong listing will help you accomplish this goal.

Writing attention-riveting advertisements that sell takes...

1) Knowledge

Auction listings are allowed only a relatively small number of letters and numbers to get the message across. You can't ramble on forever. The better you know your product, the better you will be able to write about it -- with enthusiasm, conciseness and impact.

In addition, there are certain key words and ideas that will "push the buttons" of all your potential customers. Understand your visitors' needs and wants, and it's easy to find those powerful words.

Get into your customer's mindset and write for him or her.

2) Practice

Like all skills in life, writing profitable listings requires practice and more practice -- tweaking and editing until you get it just right.

When you first begin, you may decide to keep your listings very simple. As you gain experience, your content will reflect your growing awareness of your market and what they want. Potential customers will be able to identify themselves in your listing.

The more that customers want something, the more they are willing to pay to get it.

That's your reward for all your practicing.

3) Ongoing observation

Observation is the last big key to successful listings. Learn from other successful sellers. Spend time surfing listings of similar items to yours. Evaluate their strengths/weaknesses. Are they highlighting a feature or benefit that you didn't think about?

File your research notes and use this new information when you write your own listings.

To get you started, Make Your Net Auction Sell! presents some powerful role models who demonstrate this skill well. Follow their lead to profits. Skip money-losing trial-and-error strategies.

Your first action is to shop for something to buy at an auction site.

Surprised? Why "buy" when you are ready and anxious to "sell"?

Relax, selling is the next step. To be a successful seller, you need the experience of buying, in order to understand your buyer's perspective and to know how to create a smooth sales transaction.

So... it's time to visit an auction.

Identify a category that interests you. Gardening equipment? Car parts? Old magazines? Sport accessories?

Now as you scroll through the listed items, pay close attention to three critical aspects of an effective listing...

1) The Headline

Today, eBay and uBid say they have five million listings. Of course, those are spread over thousands of categories. This explains why auctions attracts so many visitors -- there is basically something for everyone. However, it also means that competition in certain categories is stiff.

Imagine your buyer sitting in her chair, looking at her screen, scrolling leisurely down the page. Out of all these choices, what is going to make her stop and click on a particular one? There's only one possibility and that's a good headline!

Try this yourself. Take 10 separate listings and rank their headlines in your mind -- from most effective to least effective.

Which headline would you click first? Why?...

Second? Why?...

Keep going. Do you think that you would read the content that follows the headline that ranks 10th? Not likely.

Now continue this "buying" exercise by examining...

2) The Content

See how well sellers in your category explain their merchandise...

a) Description -- do you clearly understand what they are selling, or do you have unanswered questions?

Most buyers will skip right on by merchandise if they don't understand. Bottom line? Incomplete information results in lost buyers.

b) Condition -- of course, much of the merchandise on the auction sites is brand new. But if it isn't, look at the description used.

Words like "good", "excellent", etc., really are inadequate. Two people may have very different ideas of this meaning.

One of the quickest ways to ruin an auction business is to misrepresent "condition." Be aware that many sellers do just that -- not because they are dishonest (although a few are), but simply because it is tough to be objective about their own possessions.

c) Terms of the transaction -- how much do they charge for shipping and handling? What shipping method does the seller use? Is the process clearly explained?

d) Value -- in your opinion, are there discrepancies between the items and their prices? Do you perceive the same value as the seller?

Find at least three listings that cover content well.

And finally, the remaining part of your research project...

3) Presentation

a) HTML or not?

What is the effect of each format as you read listings?

All auction sites allow the seller to simply type in a listing. And this is perfectly acceptable.

However, when your copy appears, it will be one long black and white paragraph, with no spacing. Many sellers use this format and never change.

However, there is no doubt that using HTML format is easier to read and more professional looking. And the better your listing looks, the more likely you are to make a substantial profit.

b) Pictures or not?

Some items absolutely require pictures, while others do not. For example, if you sell jewelry, you will make few sales unless your buyers can see what they are bidding on.

Photos, if clear and well-done, add professionalism and impact to a listing.

Find some listings that are crying out for a photo. At the same time, jot down comments about those listings that are first-class and identify why photos contributed to their effectiveness.

Make Your Net Auction Sell! teaches you three different ways to add pictures quickly and easily to your listing. You don't need to be a world-class photographer at all -- in fact, you don't even have to own a digital camera!

Increase your knowledge of and experience with the marketing skills outlined above and your profits will rise proportionately.

And if you really want to skyrocket your profits, cross-promote all your auctions, especially if you are auctioning items in different categories. Add a link to your other listing(s).

It's FREE publicity -- which sets up more chances for more sales!

The learning curve for a Net auction business is very short.

It's easy to get started and it's just as easy to grow and expand your business.

You may begin with just a simple listing but quickly your enthusiasm, confidence and profit EXPECTATIONS will grow. It won't be long before you will want to build your own Web site to sell your products directly.

That gives customers two options for buying -- by auction or by retail. And it gives you a chance to provide more high-value information to firmly establish your credibility.

There is one important point to add about auction listings. Testing is quick. No need to wait weeks or months to decide if your copy can be more powerful.

The shortest auction listing lasts three days and the longest in length is ten. That's not very long to wait to get direct feedback from the only people who matter the most... your customers!

Either your widget sells or it doesn't. The variables are so few that it's not hard to figure out where you can tweak to improve your results.

The pieces of the Net auction business puzzle are falling into place. But to get a full sense of the "big picture," you need one more important piece -- the sales transaction (the actual income producer)

Ready to make some money now? Go to Step #3 and take action