E-Bay is an auction site! this may seem obvious but as someone who attends “real” auctions this is a point missed by many members. If you have items people want they will sell, if nobody wants your item it will not sell whatever the price.

Now to the point of this guide, why start an auction with a high start bid then have a hidden reserve price, this practice annoys me and I am sure a lot of other people as well. Remember I said it was an auction site in the above situation what usually happens is someone bids say £100 and the dreaded Reserve Not Met comes up, and often the “auction” ends at that point until the seller has to lower his reserve price. Then people tend to think he/she is desperate to sell, and wait for the inevitable relist at a much lower price.

Be honest with yourself as to the value of your item and do one of the following.

One

Start your item at the price you are willing to accept with NO reserve, if someone wants it they will bid at that price and will be pleased when they are top bidder, and who knows two people might want it and start a bidding war.

Two

Start your item at £0.99 with a reserve price you are willing to accept, this may seem the same as starting at £100 but it is not as many people myself included have bid on high value items that I did not really need just to see if I could grab a bargain! The other advantage of this method is that items like this are usually bid on early and one bid attracts another and you end up with lots of different bidders who often stay to the end of the auction.

Three

This last one is by far the most “exciting” start at £0.99 with NO reserve, as I said in method 2 this attracts the grab a bargain brigade and when bidders see that bidder A has won the item for £0.99 they will bid £1.20 and before you know it your item is zooming up as more and more bidders join in. The only disadvantage of this is that the marketplace decides the value of your treasured item. But remember it is an auction.

Four

Buy It Now, this is really only good if the item is new or you put a realistic price on the item. I have bought quite a few BIN items that have been cleverly priced at just under the average auction price for similar items, thus the seller has got his money in a very short time often less than an hour on E-Bay.

With regard to item 4 remember you can do an advanced search for completed items similar to the one you are selling this can give you an idea if it is actually worth putting your item on in the first place if your value is higher than the average realised.

Finally remember that E-Bay charge for listings by the start price so you can save money, only a few pence but it all adds up.

Do you know why YOUR customers buy? Seems like a simple marketing question, right? Not really, when you dig deeper under the surface. How you answer this question is critical to the success of YOUR business.

You must understand one simple marketing fact: customers buy for their reasons, NOT yours. They could care less about your company and your mission statement or the long list of product features you so skillfully articulate. They only care about the outcome YOUR OFFER provides THEM. They want the benefit, the impact, the improvement, the comfort, or the security it will deliver. Most businesses and entrepreneurs fail to address these crucial customer needs directly. Instead, they focus on the greatness of their product or service and miss what is important. Marketers are often their own worst enemies. Frequently, they are not communicating on the buyer’s level of motivation. They’re too busy figuring out how to sell the product rather than finding out the reasons the client buys. The problem comes down to the marketing strategy that is utilized. Are YOU pushing your product or are YOU pulling the customer through the marketing process?

Since buyers only care about their needs and take action for their personal reasons, why should they pay attention to why YOU think your product is so great? When you push your products, you are essentially telling the customer that they should buy from you because of your reasons. With this egocentric approach you often run into a brick wall of objections and delays. Pushing the product forces them out of their comfort zone and places unnecessary pressure on their decision making process. A relentless assault of closing techniques pushes them away from a purchasing decision on their terms. Pulling a buyer through the purchasing process is much more effective. When you pull, you are leading them to the purchase. You gently guide them through your features and benefits and come to a decision on their terms. If they resist you have NOT educated them enough with information to motivate them or you haven’t addressed their objections sufficiently. The buyer will only make a decision when they are comfortably satisfied, your offer has met all of their purchasing criteria.

As a seller, you must pull them through the process and always let them stay within the limits of their comfort zone. It’s by staying within these boundaries that trust is established and a long term relationship is built with the client. The purchasing process is completely rooted in the perceptions of the buyer. They have ultimate control over the process, not you. Your job as a marketer is to develop all your communications to make them comfortable and lead them to the best outcome…purchasing your product or service.

Which Method Are You Using? - Push or Pull? - One you have figured this out, adopt it to the buyer’s personal reasons for purchasing and you will enjoy continuous success.