Technique 1: Arbitraging (May 23rd, 2007)
In one of my first economics classes at MIT, I heard the word "arbitrage." Arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of different prices between different markets. On eBay, this boils down to buying items, and reselling them at a higher price to a different market. There is a simple way to do this, and it is a technique many people know about: We search for a misspelled variation of a popular item, for example, "paystation," and then look over the results for a good deal. Since people won't see the misspelled listings, we can snatch them up for a great price, and then turn around and resell them, correctly listed, for a huge profit. A few weeks ago, I acquired a poorly listed "playstaion 3" for $150, and resold it for $500.
This is a technique a lot of eBay experts know. The reason we can still make money with it is the awesome search engine below. This search engine inputs into eBay all possible misspelling of a popular item, and then gives you the search results. I have made $1000s from this technique alone. Happy arbitraging!
Technique 2: Free Shipping (May 26th, 2007)
When I'm searching for an item on eBay, I always add in the shipping cost to my mental estimate of the total cost of the item I am looking to buy. Believe it or not, most people take into account that shipping cost. Your Playstation 3 thats currently bidding at $385 will look a lot less attractive with that $40 shipping cost next to it. Instead, set the shipping cost to free, and your listing jumps out. Bidders will bid higher on items that have no shipping cost, and often, the extra cash surpasses the shipping amount on other listings.
Technique 3: Listing Tricks (May 30th, 2007)
When you list an item on eBay, there are several tricks you can use to make your listing stand out more. These tricks are worth it, even if you have to pay a little bit extra to use them in your listing.
- Always highlight or outline your search listing. When people are scrolling through hundreds of search results for a Playstation 3, the one with the purple highlighting and black border will surely stand out and catch their attention.
- Use as many pictures and details as you can. Try to avoid stock photographs, and take your own. If you are selling a used item, take detailed photographs so the buyers can see that the item they are buying is in excellent condition.
- In your listing, use colored fonts and different style fonts to draw attention to different things, and keep the reader's eyes busy on your listing page.
Technique 4: Building Feedback (June 9th, 2007)
On eBay, one of the first things people look at when they decide whether or not to do business with you is your feedback score. More feedback means more trustworthiness. Too bad you can't just buy feedback...But wait, you can! On eBay, there are several eBooks listed for a penny. These books are electronic books written by various merchants, and they are delivered via email upon purchase. So you can buy a hundred of these eBooks, pay $1.00 and no shipping costs, and then have 100 positive feedback added to your account! Simple as that. To find these eBooks, do an advanced search with the maximum price set to one cent. Then select Buy It Now as the only allowed Buying Option, and then type "ebook" into the search bar. You should end up with results like these.