Top 5 Tips to Maximize Your Income on EBay Auctions

EBay, the world’s #1 online auction site has provided a part-time or fulltime source of income for many households all over the world. The process of selling items to anybody in part of the world has made this a huge phenomenon. Many have found a way to sell off their unwanted items and make some money out of it and many others may have found a way to buy items for low and sell high on EBay. Before EBay, lot of these unwanted items would end up as donations to Goodwill stores or trash if they do not sell on yard sales! Now, they have a way of making some money out it.

Some of them have teamed up with wholesalers and drop shippers to create a regular income and sell same or similar items like computer, electronics or furniture etc. over and over again. So, how do you maximize your income on EBay? Short answer would be BACKEND SALES! Did you notice that when you buy a burger at Burger King, McDonald or any other fast food joint, you always hear "Would you like some fries with it?" Have you noticed that at the check out counter of your local grocery store chain, they stack up gossip magazines, TV guides, Gums, Snickers etc.? These are low priced items that sell quickly when people have to stand in long lines.

Here are five unique ideas to maximize your income:

1. Whenever you sell an item, you get the email of the customer. Create a database of these customer contacts and send an email stating that you will be sending occasional information about great deals similar products in the future. It is best to use an auto responder. There are many free sources of auto responders or you can subscribe to a paid one. Whenever you list an item on EBay for sale, send an email to this list. Remember to add this line after your signature - "PS: Please forward this email anyone you know who might be interested". Since you have a good reputation of being a very courteous and trustworthy seller, they will forward your email to their friends and relatives.

2. When you ship your item, always include a list of other similar items that you have for sale. This can get them interested in more items or they may mention it others.

3. If your product is an item that will be needed by the customer again and again (for example shipping package material), then it is good idea to contact them after a few months because the shipping material that you sent earlier would have been consumed by them and they may be looking to buy more. Offer some discounts on subsequent sales or offer free shipping. This will motivate them to buy more from you.

4. Here is a great idea that is used very effectively by many online business owners. These business owners use EBay to get a sales lead only. That’s all! For example a computer parts seller may sell over 100 memory stick for only $3.99 on EBay. All this person is trying to do is get a sales lead. Once the sale is made, they will send an email to mention about their website for future sales. Create a website for your products with a shopping cart. After you sell an item on EBay, send your buyer to your website. Buying directly from your website is profitable to you because you do not have to pay EBay fees. You can encourage the buyer to go your website by giving discount coupon and it will still work best for you because you are not paying any EBay fees.

5. Here’s another great idea for backend sales on EBay. You can sell related digital information products (eBook) along with the main item. An eBook works best here because you can offer it for cheap as there is no extra cost for additional sales and also the buyer has the satisfaction of downloading it immediately after payment is made. You can create your own eBook or buy resell rights to one or sell an affiliate product. You cannot list any other product or link on your EBay auction listing but you can in your "About Me" page. All members get to create "About Me" page. Once you create this page, a "me" icon will appear next to your username. In your "About Me" page, you can create links to your information product. Put the link to your "About Me" page in your auction listing. For example, you are selling golf items on EBay. You can create an eBook (or eBook with resell rights or affiliate eBook) about the improving your golf cut that can be sold for $7.95. In the auction ad, create a link to your "About Me" page where there is an ad for this eBook. The link to your "About me" page can read something like - "Want to improve your golf? Click here for some great tips!" This will lead the auction visitor to the "About Me" page and then to your eBook. The pricing of such digital product is very important! These are not the main item so the cost should be from $5 - 15. Remember "Would you like some fries with this?" Fries cost around $0.70 and that is why they sell quickly. Such backend sales are possible even if the visitor does not buy your main product on EBay and also you will not be paying EBay fees for the sale of the eBook!

This article provides some possible ways to increase your income on EBay. Keeping in contact with your customer is very important. People buy on EBay because of the credibility. There are thousands of new products and services website built everyday but people buy these products only from well established online stores like Amazon, Dell, and HP websites because they feel more comfortable. If not, they will buy from EBay because they get a chance to leave feedback on the seller. This is reason why new online business owners must open a business on EBay so they can also gain credibility from potential shoppers and encourage them to buy from their product website.