So I’m about to let you in on some ebay secrets for the holidays. But first let me address those of you who are going to think I’m a scrooge for using the term “cashing in on Christmas”, yes the holidays (Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah) are meant to celebrate life, love & God’s gifts, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it a little merrier yourself. There is nothing wrong with cashing in on people’s holiday spending, unless you want to protest the Macy’s parade I suggest you get used to the idea that people prosper on holiday mirth.
Now why don’t you get some of that action yourself in your eBay store or auctions? So here are some tips on holiday selling & how to wipe the floor with your competition in good cheer.
- Offer gift wrapping! Get your kids to do it or just take the 5 minutes to do it yourself, gift wrapping is a big plus when people are searching for a special product. You can even mark up your original price if you offer gift wrap a reasonable amount. This is one of many things that makes your auctions shine compared to others.
- One way to make money on eBay without having to kill yourself scouring for deals is to deal directly with a wholesaler. If you have any sense of what will sell well this holiday season, which you can figure out in an hour of research online, try out a deep discounter online who you can order from in bulk & then break up, re-package and re-sell. A great source for refurbished electronics & games I found is called UncleVicDeals.com ‘wrapped’ properly these items could be resold at a profit to late shoppers.
- Offer super fast shipping. Around the holidays ditch snail mail, that doesn’t mean don’t use the postal service at all but instead advertise priority shipping for all your auctions. If your selling something small mark it up accordingly but if it is a more expensive item (like a camera or lap top) offer the fast priority shipping for free. This has been proven to drive up your auction end prices & make customers much happier then when they have to shell out the five bucks themselves. Think about it, if you sell something for $100 vs. $80 if you offered it with no priority, even if you have to pay $10 to ship it fast you are still making more money in the end.
how to make money on eBay: do something special for your buyers
- Another great ebay seller tip is to make sure the buyer will come back to you time & again. If you do something special for them on the holidays, even if you don’t make a lot off of it, you’ll secure their loyalty to you as a seller. A friend baked cookies & sent a few to each buyer with their purchase. People loved it & she knew that next year she’d be their #1 choice for their online holiday needs.
- Cash in on the slackers. Offer a wide array of items about a week before Christmas with buy it now prices or very short (say 3 day) auction times. Then offer priority and express shipping to boot. You can mark up the prices a little and even the shipping because the holidays creates these ‘desperate buyers’ who are really willing to spend anything to secure their presents before the holidays hit.
Hope these ebay secrets to holiday selling helped. Writing this post reminded me I need to hop to it & start my Christmas shopping before I become one of the desperate buyers I talked about! If I dont I’ll probably end of buying from one of you sellers last minute, which will line your pockets but send me to the poor house!
For more ebay secrets and information on how to make money on eBay for those of you who are just starting out check out my post on 7 simple steps to getting started selling on eBay.
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