 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Editor's
Note - 04.10.02 |
|
How do I get people to visit my Web site?
This question is as old as commercial Web sites themselves. You want to sell something, and you know there are people out there want to buy it. Making potential customers aware of what you're selling and connecting them with your products is a process is as old as sales itself.
Today's article deals with a promotion tool that may not be obvious to many online etailers. Have you ever thought of promoting your online business by selling your wares on eBay? "Wait," I hear you say. "I'm not interested in moving into auctions as my primary source of income; they're too unpredictable and the income is not stable." This can be true for some businesses; however, there's no need to rely on your income from eBay to keep your business running. While eBay is a great place to sell merchandise, it's also a terrific promotional tool.
In today's article, Garrett French lets us in on the secrets of New England Comics. Their eBay presence is not primarily for profit but instead to lead potential customers to their Web site, which is far more profitable. Keep on reading to see how eBay has helped NEC promote its Web site and its brick and mortar stores.
To get an idea of the types of things sold on eBay (and really it’s only limited by imagination plus a few rules about objectionable, illegal, or weird items), visit the site itself at http://www.ebay.com. Follow their "Learn More" link to get details on how the whole thing works, and to find out why online auctions may be safer than you think.
Enjoy the article!
|
|
|
Marketing Your Site on eBay
|
|
 |
With
ezTrackZ not only can you track your own advertising, but you can track
your clients campaigns as well. Even provide them with their own secure
login! >>Try
it FREE!<<
|
by Garrett French
Have you ever bought anything on eBay? First, there's the thrill
of the hunt, searching for that perfect end table or new hard
drive. Next comes your bid, that moment of no return when you
put yourself on the line. Once you've won your first auction,
and gotten what feels like a good deal, you're hooked.
Now multiply that by 42.4 million, and you have the eBay community,
a multi-cultural online marketplace that remains the top earning
dotcom to date.
There are even professional auction vendors, people who earn
their living buying and selling goods on eBay.
I began my research with the idea of writing about becoming
an auction professional, as well as about brick and mortar stores
moving their sales on to eBay. What I found during my interview
with Nathan Machado of New England Comics caused me to change
my whole direction.
 New
England Comics is a Boston area comic book retailer with seven
brick and mortar stores that makes healthy mail order sales.
Nathan primarily manages the supply chain, but he's also called
in to package shipments, work in the publishing end (NEC publishes
'the Tick'), and sometimes to fill in at a store. He's also
responsible for their eBay presence.
There's a local used book/comic dealer who I heard went entirely
to eBay sales, and so I asked early in the interview if NEC
was considering making the leap. I was surprised to hear that
they weren't, and that they only put about 25-40 comics and
figurines up for sale every week.
They sell items on eBay that won't sell in the stores - either
because all the customers who are going to buy one did, or they're
just plain not going to sell. Still, I don't imagine their eBay
sales for a week could pay Nathan for the time it takes to photograph
and post the items.
So, what's the motivation?
Promotion - plain and simple. NEC posts comics on eBay to lead
potential buyers back to their e-commerce website where they
can buy the latest comics and have them shipped to their homes.
Think about it - there are 42.4 million eBay shoppers who represent
all the biggest, wealthiest nations in the world. Comic shoppers
in the Netherlands now buy regularly from NEC's online store
after finding them on eBay. It works.
So I found my line of questioning pointless - NEC did not intend
to move entirely to eBay - so I quickly changed gears and asked
Nathan about promoting a business on eBay.
Tips For Promoting on eBay
Sell Products With Wide Appeal Within Your Niche
First, he said, it's important to offer a product with wide
appeal within your niche. For the NEC it's trade paperbacks,
which are essentially ten or fifteen comics bound as one, usually
capturing an entire story arc. Trades sell well because they
are usually complete stories you can read all at once rather
than waiting for the next issue.
Trades, as they're called in the industry, are a wide-cast net
that captures a range of people searching for good deals at
auction. When NEC sells a comic to a new customer on eBay, that
customer will at least check back the next time he or she is
searching for another. That's how you create regular customers,
and in comics, as in all business, your regular customer is
your bread and butter.
Establish Consumer Confidence
Whether you're promoting an e-commerce site or making your living,
ratings are something to focus on. Online auctions rate their
buyers and sellers according to feedback given at the completion
of every single transaction. Sellers receive one point for positive
feedback, no points for neutral feedback, and they lose a point
for negative feedback.
Remember that your eBay presence is an extension of your online
presence. You're not going to find new customers on eBay if
your ratings are bad. Period. I wouldn't buy the latest Superman
from NEC's site if their feedback were fraught with comments
about delayed delivery (they're not - Nathan is proud of their
more than 2000 positive responses).
Ship With USPS
 Another
way to make regular customers out of auction shoppers is to
offer shipping prices that are as low as you can make them.
Auctions make comparative shopping a breeze, and comics sellers
have to stay lean to stay competitive. Thank goodness for the
US postal service.
Nathan recommends you ship using the post office to save your
customers money. USPS takes a bit longer, but he says most people
expect to wait about two weeks. Your eBay business practices
must, like your e-commerce practices, be as pro-customer as
possible.
Picture This
Another key for promoting yourself on eBay is to always post
pictures. "If you're going to do it right," said Nathan, "do
it with a picture." Pictures are easy and will help your sales,
which will help increase consumer confidence.
Getting Burned
There's been a lot of talk lately of auction fraud, and so I
had to ask Nathan about his experience. He said they've had
no fraud to date, unless you consider non-payment to be a form
of fraud. He estimated that 2-3 percent of his buyers don't
pay.
I asked him what precautions he took, and he said he checked
in to the bidders' ratings, just to make sure they had not gotten
too many negative responses. For bidders with a tarnished reputation
Nathan sends an email to inquire about how serious they are.
If the bidder doesn't respond then he boots them from the auction.
Putting it All Together
If you've dismissed selling your products on eBay because you
don't anticipate a substantial market, think again. Especially
if you already sell a product online. EBay can be an excellent,
effective, and, best of all, inexpensive means of marketing.
NEC already had the pre-existing infrastructure for selling
mail order, so making the leap to eBay was not a big deal, especially
with all the help eBay offers online.
If you need some help establishing yourself, consider visiting
drexelantiques.com. They sell antiques on eBay and have compiled
a fantastic list of auction resources.
http://www.drexelantiques.com/ebayhelp.html
|
 |
News Headlines
Get
Free Email Newsletters
|
|
|
|
