If internet or website auctions (online selling) is for your store a place where you increase your revenue/profits, you should consider preparing some very good auctions with appropriate description. Few points may be crucial when client chooses the person from he would buy. Important factor may be price, however its not the essence always when taking a buying decision. It depends. I would go through some ideas for an individual, which may increase visibility of your auction, (or rather: help to sell) your item.
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It's possible to sell almost all, however at a reasonable price, at least when you're selling on the internet. Client, can with 1 easy click check the lowest prices e.g. in the shop comparison services or he might get the lowest price on auction, from the trusted (by user reviews) sellers. By obtaining an item, from a person who has most of the positive comments (reviews) his not risking almost anything, so you're 1. first task when selling items on such auctions would be to obtain significant amount of user reviews, e.g. by buying many – less than $1 dollar items (digital media! send by internet, e.g. like points on (service like) rapidshare [in PL: chomikuj.pl] or a less than $1 dollar book/publication/key etc.), each from a various seller & getting positive feedback, by placing the positive comment first. It's not a huge cost, for less than $50 you may obtain 50 comments which would allow you to set your credibilitywhen applying in auctions. No one likes to buy and would not buy from a person who has got the "letter" (read: not fully activated account, with not confirmed address [at least on PL auctions, allegro you've got something like this]), with 0 trustworthiness, at least when you're a private person – wanting to sell an item. At least I don't see it, its better to invest little cash in items which are not expensive & needed for you, to set the initial trust for the (possible) buyer. When you're starting a shop and you've got at least those 2 places set in the real world, it might not be necessary, however its advised (you would learn later why).
The best is learning on an example, so let's start. I wanted to sell a camera, from my home – which I don't use currently (you've got such cameras currently in phones e.g. like HTC SENSATION or HTC DESIRE HD [only 720p]) and I need money, because of my situation. Thing is, that 2-3 years ago, cameras in phones were rather calculators, so camera was a need for me to create videos which can be found on this website. It's role has ended, besides I need to get the money fast, cashing it – by selling to someone who would give money.
(click to enlarge)
Explanation.
- EYE attracting focus thumbnail – it's more visible in the #3 image.
Thing is, that you need to fight for the customer attention to the potential auction from the very beginning. Those who don't fight – get lost in the crowd, resulting in hugely smaller sale (or even none).
Visibility of your auction is everything and the more its opened, by more & more people – theoretically the higher you've got chance of selling your product to the wider audience (which is your priority goal, the #1 – most important: to sell, as much as you can).PURE (JUICY) REDborder has be proven to be the most effective eye-catching color (#f2050b, #fe0406 or [mine] #fd0000 in RGB values).
However in the example it wasn't used exactly what I'm writing it is the most efficient in attention catching (thumbnail) method, despite I was experimenting with some other forms of attraction, however proven not so effective (thumbnail would be changed after finishing this article).
It's also wise to use clear(photographic)-producer-made photo, which gives user exactly the experience what he is buying. Those photos are usually well-done and beautiful, making the exact impression on the buyer. You can find them, by putting product model on the Google and going (on the top) on the IMAGE section.
(click to enlarge) - DESCRIPTIVE TITLE WHICH POINT all the commonly searched terms and uses "@@@@@@@" as a distinction which makes the title more visible to the eye.
An example of this title is (on example): "CAMERA FULL HD JVC GZ-HD300 HDD 60GB @@@@@@@@@@@@" (as translated). Let's see what has been used, in the title:
[1] you need to write what it is: is it a camera or a laptop? You really need to use that word, because most of the people USE IT to search for what they want to buy, e.g. TV or "contact lenses" ("eye lenses" or just "lenses") and by only putting e.g. "Johnson & Johnson AVUCUE xx 500" you're making it non-visible (mostly) for the people who search only by title name (as in the service provider above), using term: "lenses").
[2] NEXT it's wise to use "bonus" which extends the primary title, e.g. I don't sell "normal" camera, but FULL HD CAMERA!, so after the word: "camera" I add + "full HD", off course – all in CAPITALIZED letters, because they PUT MOST OF THE ATTENTION on the title (making it "wanted" to be clickable, at least in some degree), but mainly: taking eye focus on it, firstly. In another example of "contact lenses", title may be: "one-day" or "monthly" (suggesting the amount of time they should be used).
[3] AFTER IT comes the model of the product, exactly specified (users often search for exact models, e.g. "HTC DESIRE HD" or "NOKIA N95 8GB"). It's obligatory. In my case it's: "JVC GZ-HD300".
[4] NEXT you should put some distinctive features which customer MAY want to know, before he clicks, e.g. in my case – this distinctive thing is 60GB HARD DRIVE, so I put: "HDD 60GB" (hard disc drive 60 gigabytes).
[5] Usage of "@@@@@@@@@@@@" makes makes distinction between other ads/descriptions which don't use it, however it's poorly visible e.g. in the image of category list, but greatly visible e.g. in the example of eye_focus ads image (question to ask is: "on which ad first you would put focus?").
Usage of words like "promotion", on the end – when not auction (only "buy now" type) doesn't make sense, because after e.g. typing world "promotion" I've received 194596 results (3892 pages of results). It is pointless to use words which everyone uses. - REASONABLE PRICE – SEE THE IMAGE: #4 image (& READ the explanation on it).
Remember that the client would buy [select to buy] (if they are not found any other reasons) – the cheapest offer which he has some sense of knowledge/trust that he would get this product (it may be false, however – it doesn't matter in the big picture).
If you want to sell the product fast, make sure you've got 15%-20% cheaper price for pay, than your competitors (e.g. on used things).
(click to enlarge) - MAXIMUM ACTION TIME.
When you're placing an auction – you __ALWAYS__ choose the maximum time frame. Why? Because you're drastically reducing the costs (often you pay +10% more of value and if you would be forced to put again auction you're loosing all the costs of issuing it [starting/placing again]). It's crucial. Longest time frame of auction gives you also more time for finding clients (even when it's done in an auction time: somebody has got MORE time to write to you & to ask you (or give the amount) he would pay you). If the (potential) client has got too less time to make a buying decision – he would often, not buy. Keep it in mind. - BUY NOW.
It's better to put only 1 price as "buy now" and to put the minimum amount you're agreeing to sell the product, because when you're setting e.g. auction on bidding: 600 PLN and BUY NOW for 1,000 you've got less chance (at least I feel so) that you would sell for e.g. 900 as you've wanted for or e.g. 870. It often appears that people would be able to give you the "minimum" amount you've set the auction and which is: 600 PLN. It's rare chance that somebody would give the full 1,000 because of the fact – he's got better option to bid and to buy it at smaller price, so don't take chances like this (you would need to sell the product for the amount which was bid, when not setting minimal price [which costs a lot on this portal auction]). I never set minimal amount, because you would need to pay even 20 PLN for more (even when the auction hasn't been won). I only set "BUY NOW" (it may differ on various auction sites, but it's the best option, to set only BUY NOW – ALL).
Remember that people who get things on the internet (buy), want to get the best possible deal and they can come to another site with a mouse click, so please make sure you've got the best offer (or your offer is unique, distinctive, one of a kind). When buying things in the REAL world – you often don't have any comparison, so its far much easier to overpay for the product. REMEMBER IT.
Summing it up: buying on the internet has got very different characteristics than buying in the real world where the choice is limited often to one store in which you are (almost nobody uses phone to compare prices, at least I didn't seen it – person see's the product often and just buys it, without thought, because of the strong emotions it caused in the person, all). - FREE SHIPPING included in the asking price.
Although it's not a obligatory thing to do – I do it, because on my auction website shipping costs are displayed near to the asking price and people who want to buy it at cheapest cost – watch on this column.
I like the feeling, which customer may have: I'm only paying for the product, shipping is FREE ("ehhhh, +30 PLN to shipping costs – too much, maybe I would find it somewhere cheaper"). However as you may know – the shipping costs are included, added to the money I wanted for the camera (as on example).
It depends from the competition you've got on the auctions with your product. Typically: when the prices are low, you add the shipping costs normally, because of the strong competition and clients, that watch only on the price. In products which are expensive – it's better to give *FREE* shipment.
Some variations of this method include that you earn on shipping costs really, but it's tricky for me – I wouldn't used it personally (e.g. you can take 20% more in some cases [to secure additional costs], but its wise to put the required amount [some people watch on it]). - DESCRIPTIVE DESCRIPTION, covering ALL the basic information (which client wants to know or might & could ask).
Except the things which are attached on the image (point #7) I would like to put information that the description is the second most important thing when selling a product. Your task is to create – won't write it again and again, it's all in the below articles (AIDA selling scheme).- HOW TO SELL, PART I: general rules (introduction)
- HOW TO SELL, PART II: manipulation in action (manipulation techniques)
- HOW TO SELL, PART III: Inner game (fake it, till you make it) in practice
Your task, generally is to show the client, that he can trust you and wouldn't be scammed. You're doing it by having near 100% positive comments and could also establish by giving contact to yourself [phone contact → on the top of each item page, probably messenger & e-mail too] (watch next point) and when you're a shop (and have got at least, at best: 2 points) – put images, address, phones of __ALL__ it's points across the country (and outside country too, but on a specified link). Adding website address to your shop is also a good idea & probably link to references on some "price comparison site" (however I'm not sure its a good idea, because they mainly pay for clicks, not buys – so, if it's possible: make sure you've got no products and only users "independently" put reviews about your shop on this site).
Your task is mainly to present all the features of the product, give links to movies / presentations of it, to the producer etc. (e.g. show games, graphics when selling PC's). It's the work you need to do.
In the example, for this article, it's: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/JVC-Everio-GZ-HD300-Camcorder-Review-36553/Product-Tour.htm [mirror].
However those, point – above are only the beginning of the selling – the minimum & basic necessary in order to sell anything. 90% of success consists – advertising & don't count that auctions service provider would do it for you.
If you would count that after you put the items – they would sell, you make be in a huge mistake. They might sell, I don't say: "no", but its better to "help them sell" by advertising link everywhere, where you can. It often applies that when you've sold 1st piece (unit) – sales would then skyrocket and sell to the end. It's wise, when you've got some more items on 1 auction – shown to the public: offer free shipping for the first person who would buy & send the cash (or -30 PLN discount). It could accelerate much sales and I've had such experience in the past, believe or not.
MARKETING (attracting the customers) / IDEAS WHAT YOU COULD DO TO SELL – + INCREASE SALES.
- Find a similar auction with the product you want to sell – write to a person (who put this auction): to give you profile links to the 2 (to 5) highest bidders – write to them, if they aren't interested in buying your product from link X for the price in the item page.
I've did such action in the example page (auction, for this article), however seller didn't posted his phone number & he didn't replied on my e-mail (he set minimal price, so he wasn't obligated to send the item). Unfortunately there wasn't anybody who had an auction with this product, before & at the moment. - Put on status update (on your messenger) – link to the auction, send it to all your people on mail, send it to all people you've got on facebook/twitter, post it everywhere in the web – where you can reach your potential customers. Smart thing is & I do it all over again: have the link in the signature, on forums/boards where are people with money (potential customers). Put it under the signature of every mail you send/reply to anybody.
- Post the link on site like e.g. business ads (but don't pay for posting it!), who are often visited by people with money. Make sure you're posting an alias, like e.g. http://tiny.pl/ALIAS or best http://yoursite.com/go/x1 – where you can replace easily the redirecting link [!] (e.g. when you would put new auction & you need to update the link, in order to don't do it all the time, useless work).
- Offer cash to people for finding a client (share in profit, e.g. 500 PLN on business worth 5,500 (or 20,000, offer 1,000) PLN).
- Put your item/auction on groupon-like website (group buying), e.g. in the service provider which often put links on the homepage, increasing hugely visibility – by sharing part of your profit (count it all).
- Advertise for cash on other websites – buying links on them for a pennies (e.g. in digg-like websites).
- Did you've already put your item ad on free-ads pages like craiglist or gumtree?
- Buy advertisement on a homepage in the auction-provider company.
- Facebook, has proven to be successful tool in spamming your links (LIKE some popular page, e.g. "forbes" or "funny sites" – authors/workers of those websites often posts "feeds" on your wall – put a valuable comment, then put 2-3 links below (where 1 is useful for the most & 2 others are "spam", example: fb spamming). It's legal & moral (you're helping by posting link), because its not e-mailing people with unwanted information.
You may be blocked (to don't put any more comments in fb feeds), however I've still haven't been in 90% of the "like" pages I've posted in. Those who blocked me possibility of putting a comment – I've unlike'd their pages.
For more ideas, visit: MARKETING IDEAS, innovative marketing, promotion ideas.
SELLING is an art and if you want to become the best seller you need to put focus, attention & time in order to study new things & use them in practice in order to get the results you've always expected. You can also hire somebody who already knows it. You're choice.
REMEMBER that talk with the client is essential and nothing could replace it. Sale is the priority in every company & the goal of every entrepreneur. Please share you ideas in comments, thank you.
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