You Don’t Have To Be An Ebay Power Seller To Make Money
Written by Dave Bromley -
At one time becoming an eBay Power Seller was considered the peak of online auction selling. Recognition that you were a grade A number one seller. But that’s not true anymore, if it ever was. All you have to do to become a Power Seller is average $1000 (£750 in the UK) a month sales and have good feedback rating .
But what does being a Power seller really say about your eBay business? It says that you have a minimum turnover figure. For all anyone knows you may have achieved that by selling items at a loss. Many businesses both on and online have run into trouble by going for turnover at the expense of profit.
When you are planning your eBay business set your self a target based on profit not turnover. So instead of setting a target to sell $5000 of product on eBay each month make it to make $2000 profit instead. By concentrating on your profit rather than turnover you will always know what your business is worth to you.
Many of the sellers making big profits on eBay are not in fact Power Sellers. You may think this strange but for a variety of reasons they opt not to go for this accreditation. Some sellers have multiple eBay Ids. You may wonder why this is, some
may be targeting several different niche markets and have a different Id for each of these niches.
One very well known eBay seller deliberately has many Ids and stops using them when they reach a certain feedback level. The argument for this is that it makes it more difficult for any so minded jealous competitors to harass their Id with false bids or negative feedbacks. Be warned it can be a tough world on eBay.
The trouble with eBay is that it is very much price driven. Ask most people why they shop on eBay and they will tell you they are looking for a bargain. This has the effect of forever driving down prices and hence profit margins as well. There will always be someone willing to shave that little more off the price and their profits just to make the sale. This is particularly true in the Buy it Now part of the market.
The only way around this is to have something so unique that you are the only person selling it on eBay. This can be achieved by either inventing and having a product manufactured yourself or finding a new product and signing an eBay exclusivity agreement with the manufacturer. The best places I have found for discovering these types of products are trade fairs, which are always worth a visit.
Probably the easiest way to get an exclusive product is to write an e-book, audio program or make an information video. All of these are very cheap to produce and offer a big profit margin for a small out lay. Up to 1000% profit and no competition
to force your profits margins down.
If you are successful eBay will offer you Power Seller status anyway and it is up to you if you accept or not. But the point is that you will have got there by concentrating on your profits not your turnover and you will be all the richer for it.
Dave Bromley has been an eBay fan and writer for seven years. He runs one of the UKs leading eBay auction information sites http://ukauctionline.co.uk and offers a monthly newsletter and 6 part eBay mini course to anyone who registers at his site.
