Posts Tagged personal items

As eBay has become more popular, the frequency of sellers talking about their eBay competitors has grown, discussing the more successful methods of winning the battle, or having a customer purchase one of your products instead of one of theirs.  So, just what can you do, specifically, and what is the optimum plan to make certain that you win that battle?

We should note here that eBay competitors may be categorized into one of two separate groups.  The first is the genuine eBay business sellers and the second is the eBay hobbyist, operating only on a part time basis or who is merely liquidating unwanted personal items. As a general rule, the true competitors with whom you should be concerned are the real business operators, since they are established for the long run and will be more consistently in competition for your ongoing sales.

You will find that you are up against many eBay competitors or merely a few, depending upon the product market in which you are selling. But whether your competitors number in the hundreds or in single digits, your goal is to sell your products, winning the sale over each and every one of them.

One obvious way by which you can come out ahead of your eBay competitors is by selling your products at a lower price than they do, but if you both are purchasing at identical wholesale prices, can you do this? In truth, selling versus your eBay competitors is simple if you just implement a different strategy.

As opposed to sourcing wholesale products, you should confer with your wholesale supplier regarding your sourcing closeouts, overstocks and liquidations. By sourcing these types of products, you can buy them in bulk at reduced wholesale prices, meaning that if your price starts out lower you can sell at an even lower price, which promptly undercuts your eBay competitors while remaining profitable.

This is applicable to each of these products. Some people are a bit skittish when dealing in overstocks and liquidations as they have the impression that they are buying unsalable products. But in reality, the fact that an item did not move in a specific store does not indicate that it will not sell at all. eBay is, in all actuality, the preeminent vehicle through which to sell overstocks and closeouts since so very many customers worldwide are seeking so many diverse things.  You benefit from a much broader market than with a physical store location, and your sale price is substantially lower.

Another method to best your eBay competitors is by offering a more expansive product range. The broader the product range you carry, the larger your store seems and the better the possibility of customers reaching your store while looking for something specific. You may be worried that you have neither the money nor the space to source these products, and this is the beauty of drop shipping. You can implement a drop shipping agreement with your wholesale supplier whereby you have the ability to sell every item they stock and only pay for it when it has sold, which is a most definite wonderful plan to win the battle of the eBay competitors.