You Can Learn a Ton from Competing eBay Auctions
There’s a good chance you’ve already taken a look at your competitors’ auctions, but what you might not have realized is just how much you can learn as long as you know what you’re looking for.
To begin with, you really shouldn’t waste your time looking at listings that are still running because you don’t know what’s going to happen with them. Instead, use the advanced search form and search the completed listings for auctions that sold.
Simply go to the advanced search form, type in the appropriate keywords, check the “Completed listings only” checkbox and set the minimum number of bids to 1. Also, it’s probably best to set it to sort order by at the bottom of the form to “Price: highest first”.
This will show you auctions that are in competition with yours that have recently ended, starting with the ones that sold for the most. Go through and take a look, ignoring any search results with prices in red because they didn’t sell. Pay special attention to the following points:
Titles. What information are the other sellers putting in their titles and what are they leaving out? If your titles are very different then it might be time to see if you can make improvements.
Descriptions. You’ll probably notice that the successful sellers haven’t just copied text from a company website or from an Amazon.com review. They’ve gone through the trouble of writing a little about the item and about themselves. Learn from their example.
Pictures. I can almost guarantee you that the top selling auctions will have very nice pictures which are good enough to let eBayers see what they’re getting. With items of any significant cost, you’ll probably find more than one picture, each from a different angle.
Style. Is it written conversationally or in a businesslike tone? The way you should write depends on your target market and these people seem to like what the top sellers wrote. After all, their items sold.
Time. It’s might seem insignificant to ignore this as a factor, but pay attention to when the top selling items’ auctions began and ended and how long they lasted. This might give you some clues about the best way to attract buyers who will bid your item up Then you can schedule your items accordingly.
Price. If your competitors are selling using Buy it Now, check to see what the maximum price is that they’ve managed to sell for recently and consider setting your own Buy it Now price slightly below that.
Shipping. Search the listings to find the “sweet spot” for shipping. If you can figure out a way to get your shipping costs lower than the highest sellers then this might be a great opportunity to differentiate yourself in the market. You might be surprised at how much of an impact a small difference in shipping make.
Once you’ve done your research and you find out what works, you can start to emulate your competitors. Of course don’t just copy them completely. Instead, structure your auctions in a similar manner and make sure they include the same information.
God bless,
Clint