Use Online Auctions to get ready for the holidays!

Sell Online with a Yahoo Store Newsletter Archive

Diversify Your Business with Online Auctions! Part 2

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Summer's end is looming on the horizon. Pooh.

I still haven't packed away my winter clothes..

Remember all of those little summer time projects you promised to get squared away? Mine have just crossed the threshold to become Fall projects.

But, with the end of summer comes a positive surge in e-commerce. Since the beginning of our business, the months between September and February have outpaced our normal e-commerce earnings by 32% The Holiday Season is an incredible time, not only for our Yahoo! Stores, but for our eBay auctions as well.

Take it from us, get every bit of business house-keeping done before the Holiday Season rolls around.

1) Optimize your sites for the search engines, especially the Yahoo! Shopping Network! Compared to this month, the YSN will be getting close to 200% more traffic by the time December lands in our laps.

2) Get your affiliate Mega-Sites and Mini-Sites out there and indexed by the search engines. In most cases, all you need is one or two sales from one of your mini-sites for it to be profitable if you're using Search Engine Traffic to drive affiliate sales. And if they're on the SE's radar come Christmas time, well, that's a good thing.

3) Organize your Pay Per Click Campaigns. Get all of your research in order and know what keyword phrases you'll be bidding on. Establish a budget for your PPC campaigns and start testing NOW! In a month, with the right testing, you'll know what affiliate merchants are profitable, and you'll know what your cost per sale will be. With that information, the sky's the limit.

4) And finally, get your eBay auctions under control. Create your auction template, make sure you're on good terms with your wholesaler or drop shipper, and do some competitive research.

Here's why. I know that some eBay auctioneers will make over 60% of their entire years earning in the months between October and January. And those folks are gearing up now to make that happen. So, start snooping around. Take notes about closed auctions that have sold their products for good money. Make a list of elements that their auctions have that seem to magically get eBayers bidding on their items.

Look, a Home Based On-line Auction business should be treated with as much respect as any other e-commerce business out there. Why? Because fortunes can be made! And if not fortunes, real incomes. As I stated in the first On-Line Auctions article, eBay has created over 40,000 self-employed people who earn their bread and butter with nothing more than eBay auctions.

With that in mind, as the day light is getting shorter (and hopefully, cooler and less humid), take a few moments to read this article that Karol Gajda prepared especially for Yahoo! Store Profits Newsletter Subscribers.

If you don't already know, Karol and I go back to the beginning. It's kind of funny actually! We met in an Internet Forum, and it turns out that he lives about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Michigan. He's also a cheap skate!

What I mean is, he HATES spending money on his business that doesn't turn a profit. I mean, he's positively weird about it. He likes to do things himself, experiment, fail forward and learn from his experience so he can get the most useful information possible.

The end result is that Karol is now one of the foremost experts on eBay auctions that I know of.

Oh, did I tell you how cheap this guy is???

He's so cheap, he actually figured out a way to get products for free and sell them on the internet for 100% profit.

Also, he's got this test web site called the One Dollar Experiment. Get this - he wanted to see if he could turn 1 dollar into 1,000 dollars in one year using nothing but eBay auctions.

CHEAP! CHEAP! CHEAP! CHEAP!

I think he's going to make it, too.

So, when I asked Karol to GIVE me something, I thought he'd have a stroke. Instead, he responded in Fine Style. Which just goes to show you, you can be cheap and generous in the same breath.

So, below, Karol has given answers to the 4 most common questions eBay auction sellers have asked him.

Please read the whole thing, especially the special offer that he's making ONLY to Yahoo! Store Profits Newsletter Subscribers.

I've gotta think that Karol's Auction business must be going pretty good to enable him to make an offer like this.

Read on!

Excerpts from 77 Instant Auction Answers by Karol Gajda

Hello everybody...I'm back again. :) And actually Andy, I'm know as the "King of Cheap"...

As an eBay entrepreneur I get questions about running an eBay business on a consistent basis. The following questions are 4 of the most common, and hopefully they'll help you out with your own eBay business.

#31) Should I use a reserve with my auction? I definitely don’t want to lose money on it!

If you’ve got a small item that’s not worth a lot of money, then you should probably save the Reserve fee and just start your listing at the very minimum you’d sell it at. Kind of a cheap

"do it yourself" Reserve. ? But if your item is worth a lot of money and you’re not sure about the eBay sale value, then go ahead and buy yourself that Reserve. It’s great insurance when

used properly.

I’ve only used a Reserve auction once or twice. One time it was for a Web site I was selling. The final bid was only $43. I re-listed the Web site without a Reserve and it sold for $385!

#33) Where should I advertise my eBay business?

- Business cards: Any time you meet anybody new give them your business card. Make sure to include a link to your eBay auctions or eBay Store.

- Forums/message boards: Don’t blatantly post ads, but include your signature line (if they’re allowed) with a link to your auctions when you’re answering questions or making comments. Re-read Barbara Ling’s answer up above for a bit more info.

- Magnetic car signs: I used these for one of my old Web sites and they worked great. I don’t see why they wouldn’t work for an eBay business. It might be a good idea to buy a domain name (myauctions.com for example) to list on the sign. It’ll be MUCH easier to remember than a long eBay URL. Magneticsigns.com is who I used for mine.

- Signature line in all of your outgoing e-mails. Here’s mine: http://www.freeauctionprofits.com - Click here to learn How To Turn Completely Free Merchandise Into Cold, Hard Cash On eBay!

#53) When should I use Buy It Now?

It’s good to use Buy It Now when you already know a decent price you’re willing to sell your item for right away. That way if a potential buyer doesn’t feel like bidding they can just buy your item immediately.

If you have a niche developed and you sell many of the same items you’ll eventually know what the market is going to pay. Just below this dollar amount is a good price to set your Buy It Now.

#65) How do I write a compelling auction ad that persuades visitors to buy?

This is a little technique I learned from John Reese. Write a short little story that somehow ties in your item. People LOVE reading stories and whatever you can do to captivate your

audience and keep them reading your listing will be greatly beneficial to you in the end.

Also, study other winning auction ads. ESPECIALLY the ones that are in your niche. Don’t copy exactly what they’re doing, just learn from it and try to utilize the same techniques.

These are just 4 of the 77 questions you'll have immediate answers to in 77 Instant Auction Answers by Karol Gajda.

BONUS TIME!

I've twisted Karol's arm a bit. :)

He's going to give you 77 Instant Auction Answers for nothing...

All you have to do is pick up a copy of his Free Auction Profits Platinum Edition eBook using this link:

Special Offer to Yahoo! Store Profits Subscribers

Please, use that link only, then e-mail me your Clickbank receipt at

auctions@online-store-profits.com

I will then send you download info for 77 Instant Auction Answers!

Okay - he may be cheap, but he's one heck of a nice guy...

If you're not familiar with Free Auction Profits, please take a look at the Web site:

Take Care!