Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I now prefer bottom-posting *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" Does this mean you including the 10 things you need to know before you buy in your auction or are you selling it by itself? Loev, Ms Pnats In this case, the "10 Things…" are in the auction and answer questions that my (former) competitors never bothered with, such as * Will this work with…(such and such component) *Can it be used in cramped spaces… *Can I use it to… *What do I do if it doesn’t operate… These are questions I was getting from Ask Seller A Question e-mails, so I put them in the auction itself.
thank you. I redid my auction layouts tonight. We’ll see how they do. 
Loev, Ms Pants
Response:
I now prefer bottom-posting *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" Does this mean you including the 10 things you need to know before you buy in your auction or are you selling it by itself? Loev, Ms Pnats
In this case, the "10 Things…" are in the auction and answer questions that my (former) competitors never bothered with, such as * Will this work with…(such and such component) *Can it be used in cramped spaces… *Can I use it to… *What do I do if it doesn’t operate… These are questions I was getting from Ask Seller A Question e-mails, so I put them in the auction itself.
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – shows that I now prefer bottom-posting I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats Value added is the key to selling things on eBay for higher profits, as you can frequently make your product more valuable to a buyer at very little cost to yourself. Few things are unique on eBay; many are very common. Unless you want to sell for the very lowest prices (offered by idiots who don’t value their time) you need to add value to your product to make it worth more than the lowest possible price. Adding value is usually possible only because you know the item you are selling well, and know what can be done to make its perceived value higher at little or no cost to you. Here are some things you can do to add value: *Test items and sell them in guaranteed working condition, rather than as-is. *Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. Increased sales will more than cover a rare returned item. *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…"
Does this mean you including the 10 things you need to know before you buy in your auction or are you selling it by itself? Loev, Ms Pnats
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – shows that I now prefer bottom-posting I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats Value added is the key to selling things on eBay for higher profits, as you can frequently make your product more valuable to a buyer at very little cost to yourself. Few things are unique on eBay; many are very common. Unless you want to sell for the very lowest prices (offered by idiots who don’t value their time) you need to add value to your product to make it worth more than the lowest possible price. Adding value is usually possible only because you know the item you are selling well, and know what can be done to make its perceived value higher at little or no cost to you. Here are some things you can do to add value: *Test items and sell them in guaranteed working condition, rather than as-is. *Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. Increased sales will more than cover a rare returned item. *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" *Bundle an item with needed accessories so buyer doesn’t have to scrape together the things needed to make it work. These might include an AC adapter, connecting cables, or whatever. I’ve seen scads of electronic items for sale with no AC adapter, the seller noting "these are readily available on eBay." I bought universal AC adapters for $1.50 each and bundle them with any items requiring one, bumping the price up at least $5-$10. *Come up with a new use for an item. This is another place where special knowledge of a category comes in very handy. *Assemble a bunch of items into a useful configuration. This is what value-added resellers of computer equipment do. They take other vendors’ equipment, software, and accessories and sell a "turn-key" system, ready to run. I sell certain kinds of widgets, adding value using some of the above methods. Recently, two of my competitors completely dropped out. I was selling twice as many of these widgets at $12 than they were selling at $2, combined, and, apparently, it no longer made sense for them to continue. I assume that all of us paid the same 60 cents for the item, so you can see where they were losing money as they cut prices to compete. So, last week, I raised the price of one of my widgets by $1.00 and, you guessed it, it’s selling more than before.
I’d like to thank you for some of the best information that I have read today. Truly helpful! My instincts tell me when some thing is right, this is right on the money. McPig
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats Run an office supply store and buy a sheet of paper for one cent. Sell it for 1.2 cents. Become an author and buy a sheet of paper for one cent. Write the great american novel and sell that sheet of paper for $500. Personal value added represents your unique contributions that dramatically increase the value of what you have to offer. Carefully spending the two hours needed to properly process an eBay image is a good exmaple. More in the Incredible Secret Money Machine which is out of print but we hope to get online someday. In the case of eBay, you buy a mixed skid of broken stuff. Clean, repair, mix, match, promote, retuch, photograph, etc… More at http://www.tinaja.com/auct01.asp BTW, the rest of the blat columns are found, of all places, at http://www.tinaja.com/blat01.asp —
Thank you Don! I make what I sell on ebay so I need to focus on the uniqueness of what I make. My descriptions are too formal I think. Loev, Ms Pants – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – shows that I now prefer bottom-posting I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats Value added is the key to selling things on eBay for higher profits, as you can frequently make your product more valuable to a buyer at very little cost to yourself. Few things are unique on eBay; many are very common. Unless you want to sell for the very lowest prices (offered by idiots who don’t value their time) you need to add value to your product to make it worth more than the lowest possible price. Adding value is usually possible only because you know the item you are selling well, and know what can be done to make its perceived value higher at little or no cost to you. Here are some things you can do to add value: *Test items and sell them in guaranteed working condition, rather than as-is. *Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. Increased sales will more than cover a rare returned item. *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" *Bundle an item with needed accessories so buyer doesn’t have to scrape together the things needed to make it work. These might include an AC adapter, connecting cables, or whatever. I’ve seen scads of electronic items for sale with no AC adapter, the seller noting "these are readily available on eBay." I bought universal AC adapters for $1.50 each and bundle them with any items requiring one, bumping the price up at least $5-$10. *Come up with a new use for an item. This is another place where special knowledge of a category comes in very handy. *Assemble a bunch of items into a useful configuration. This is what value-added resellers of computer equipment do. They take other vendors’ equipment, software, and accessories and sell a "turn-key" system, ready to run. I sell certain kinds of widgets, adding value using some of the above methods. Recently, two of my competitors completely dropped out. I was selling twice as many of these widgets at $12 than they were selling at $2, combined, and, apparently, it no longer made sense for them to continue. I assume that all of us paid the same 60 cents for the item, so you can see where they were losing money as they cut prices to compete. So, last week, I raised the price of one of my widgets by $1.00 and, you guessed it, it’s selling more than before. I’d like to thank you for some of the best information that I have read today. Truly helpful! My instincts tell me when some thing is right, this is right on the money. McPig
I agree! Loev, Ms Pants
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – shows that I now prefer bottom-posting I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats Value added is the key to selling things on eBay for higher profits, as you can frequently make your product more valuable to a buyer at very little cost to yourself. Few things are unique on eBay; many are very common. Unless you want to sell for the very lowest prices (offered by idiots who don’t value their time) you need to add value to your product to make it worth more than the lowest possible price. Adding value is usually possible only because you know the item you are selling well, and know what can be done to make its perceived value higher at little or no cost to you. Here are some things you can do to add value: *Test items and sell them in guaranteed working condition, rather than as-is. *Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. Increased sales will more than cover a rare returned item. *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" *Bundle an item with needed accessories so buyer doesn’t have to scrape together the things needed to make it work. These might include an AC adapter, connecting cables, or whatever. I’ve seen scads of electronic items for sale with no AC adapter, the seller noting "these are readily available on eBay." I bought universal AC adapters for $1.50 each and bundle them with any items requiring one, bumping the price up at least $5-$10. *Come up with a new use for an item. This is another place where special knowledge of a category comes in very handy. *Assemble a bunch of items into a useful configuration. This is what value-added resellers of computer equipment do. They take other vendors’ equipment, software, and accessories and sell a "turn-key" system, ready to run. I sell certain kinds of widgets, adding value using some of the above methods. Recently, two of my competitors completely dropped out. I was selling twice as many of these widgets at $12 than they were selling at $2, combined, and, apparently, it no longer made sense for them to continue. I assume that all of us paid the same 60 cents for the item, so you can see where they were losing money as they cut prices to compete. So, last week, I raised the price of one of my widgets by $1.00 and, you guessed it, it’s selling more than before.
Thank you. This is very helpful. I make what I sell so I really know my item well. I tend to get too left brain with my descriptions. Loev, Ms Pants
Response:
I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats
Response:
shows that I now prefer bottom-posting I am reading Don’s Blatant opportunist #65 and came across the phrase, personal value added. What does it mean? Loev, Ms Pnats
Value added is the key to selling things on eBay for higher profits, as you can frequently make your product more valuable to a buyer at very little cost to yourself. Few things are unique on eBay; many are very common. Unless you want to sell for the very lowest prices (offered by idiots who don’t value their time) you need to add value to your product to make it worth more than the lowest possible price. Adding value is usually possible only because you know the item you are selling well, and know what can be done to make its perceived value higher at little or no cost to you. Here are some things you can do to add value: *Test items and sell them in guaranteed working condition, rather than as-is. *Offer an unconditional money-back guarantee. Increased sales will more than cover a rare returned item. *Provide the answers to common questions, either in your auction, as a FAQ, as an instruction booklet, or in response to e-mail queries, so your buyers KNOW what they are getting and KNOW what to do with it. One of my most successful auctions includes a listing of "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Buy a…" *Bundle an item with needed accessories so buyer doesn’t have to scrape together the things needed to make it work. These might include an AC adapter, connecting cables, or whatever. I’ve seen scads of electronic items for sale with no AC adapter, the seller noting "these are readily available on eBay." I bought universal AC adapters for $1.50 each and bundle them with any items requiring one, bumping the price up at least $5-$10. *Come up with a new use for an item. This is another place where special knowledge of a category comes in very handy. *Assemble a bunch of items into a useful configuration. This is what value-added resellers of computer equipment do. They take other vendors’ equipment, software, and accessories and sell a "turn-key" system, ready to run. I sell certain kinds of widgets, adding value using some of the above methods. Recently, two of my competitors completely dropped out. I was selling twice as many of these widgets at $12 than they were selling at $2, combined, and, apparently, it no longer made sense for them to continue. I assume that all of us paid the same 60 cents for the item, so you can see where they were losing money as they cut prices to compete. So, last week, I raised the price of one of my widgets by $1.00 and, you guessed it, it’s selling more than before.
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