Does your eBay business target a particular niche on eBay? If so how about going one step further and writing an eBook or short report related to your business? This will boost sales and gain you expert status in your niche. And more importantly this will give you an edge over your competition.

As an example maybe you sell gardening products on eBay, everything from lawnmowers to weed killer. Here’s what you could do:

You could create an eBook all about creating the perfect garden. You would cover everything you need to know from killing weeds to planting flowers. Or maybe you want to target your niche even more. How about an eBook or short report showing how to create the perfect lawn or how to build a barbecue? I’m sure if your niche was gardening you could write about many different topics.

Even if you sell products targeting many different niches you could do this. Maybe you sell digital cameras amongst other things, how about a short report showing how to take the perfect picture? Or a short report showing the top ten mistakes a new photographer makes?  Or maybe you sell clothes on eBay, how about a short report showing how to choose the right outfit for a wedding? Or the top ten mistakes women make when getting ready for a night out?

You could also offer these free eBooks and reports to your customers as a ‘free gift’ with every purchase made, this would help with sales and show you as an expert in your niche. It would also give you that much needed edge over your competition.

Now here’s where it gets exciting, in these eBooks or short reports would be recommendations. You would recommend these products through either affiliate links or links to the products you are selling yourself. And of course you would be promoting your eBay store.

And here’s where it gets even more exciting, you would allow others to sell and distribute these eBooks and short reports. Now each time someone else uses your material they would be promoting your products and services on autopilot. You would be generating targeted customers that otherwise would know nothing about you.

Remember, this can be done at no cost whatsoever, there are many free eBook creators available for download on the internet; all this will cost you is a little time. So if you are serious about building your business why not give it a try? You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain and you are only limited by your imagination.

If you are not getting the bids you want with your eBay auctions you could be making some crucial mistakes in your listings. As a PowerSeller who makes a living on eBay I find myself browsing eBay’s listings on a daily basis. While browsing I see so many eBay sellers (even PowerSellers) making crucial errors in their listings. Here are 10 simple mistakes eBay sellers make.

1. Poor title. I see this so often, the most common mistake is only using a few characters. You have 53 characters at your disposal so try and use them all. Also, imagine yourself looking for the item you are selling. What keywords would you search for? Try and include these in your title.

2. Spelling errors. If you have spelling errors in your listing you will get fewer bids. All it takes is to run your listing through a spellchecker before you list.

3. Silly terms and conditions. Do you really need payment within 24 hours? Must the buyers feedback be higher than 10? Try and avoid silly terms in your listings and you will get more bids.

4. Starting price to high. Try to start your auction with a 1 cent starting price. This gets the bidding going and starts the whole process. Remember, you only need 2 people interested in your auction to make a killing.

5. No pictures. A picture says a thousand words. Make sure you include at least one picture of the item you are selling. Also, never get your pictures from the internet as people want to see a real picture of what you are selling.

6. Poor feedback score. If you have a lot of negative feedback you will get fewer bids. Treat your customers with respect and don’t lie in your listings and you will have a glowing feedback score.

7. Poor listing appearance. EBay has many tools to help your listings look attractive. Adding a simple listing design can make a huge difference. Also, if you are familiar with html it helps to design your listing with your favourite html editor.

8. Bad start time. Remember, the time you list your auction is the time it will end. You will usually find you will have more success with auctions ending between 7pm and 11pm so don’t list your item before you start your 6am shift.

9. High shipping or no shipping displayed. If it only costs $2.00 to pack and ship an item don’t charge $5.00. Most buyers will avoid auctions with excessive shipping charges. Also, if you don’t state your shipping costs you will receive fewer bids.

10. Not replying to questions quickly. If you get a question from a potential bidder try to answer within 24 hours. Also be polite with all answers. Be sure to display these questions in your listing for others to see. It also helps to keep an eye on your auction as the item comes to an end just in case you get any last minute queries.

Some people think selling eBooks on eBay is easy. You just have to list a few eBooks with resale rights and wait for the money to roll in, right? WRONG!

There is a lot more to selling eBooks than just listing a few auctions. Here are 10 reasons why most eBay eBook sellers fail.

1. Selling old titles. In a highly competitive world you need to stay ahead of the competition. Be on the lookout for new titles to sell all the time.

2. Following the herd. Don’t be like every other eBay eBook seller, make your auctions different, create unique titles and sales pages to separate you from the crowd.

3. Poor eBook cover. People really do judge an eBook by its cover. Ensure you have a professional looking eBook cover.

4. Poor sales copy. Your sales copy is crucial; take your time getting your listings looking professional. Poor copy = poor sales.

5. Only selling other author’s eBooks. To be a truly successful eBay eBook seller you need to be creating your own eBooks. This way you can control the price and market by selling unique titles.

6. Not selling brandable eBooks. Sell eBooks that allow you to ‘brand’ certain links inside, thus generating you an affiliate income after the initial sale.

7. Not having a download page. Don’t send your eBook as an attachment or as a download link to a zip file. Create a download page where you can offer other products and services

8. Not capturing customer details. You should have tools in place that attempt to capture your customers email address. Offer free eBooks on your download page in exchange for your customers contact details. This means you can offer products and promotions in the future.

9. Not having an eBay store. Having an eBay store is crucial. This gives you your own unique URL you can promote in all communication with potential customers and will ultimately result in more sales.

10. Trying to make all your income on eBay. You need to think outside the box. After you have sold an eBook there are so many ways to make further sales and earn more money.

There you have it! 10 mistakes you should not make as an eBay eBook seller. If I can offer one last piece of advice it would be that you ensure you have all the tools in place to try and capture your customers email address. If you can do this you may have a customer for life and this is worth much more than a quick eBook sale.

If you have been trying to sell your goodies for quite some time on the eBay network with no luck, then it is about time that you took some time off to remodel your eBay business and rework on your marketing and selling strategies.  Maybe this ebay selling guide will help.

One common mistake most new sellers do is to ignore the look of their listings. Remember, there are millions of sellers on eBay and your buyers will quickly skip all those listings that lack visual appeal. Use all your presentation skills to create a listing that has an appealing font, superior images with good backgrounds, keyword rich content and well-crafted product description. Also important is to offer flexible payment options and return policies for your products. Use cool templates to create striking listings that eBay buyers simply cannot resist!

The next step is to check out if the products being offered have any buyers. Either your products may be outdated or they may be one of those billion items that get easily lost in the crowd. I feel the only way to deal with this is conduct extensive research. Check out those top sellers on eBay and do some realistic study about the products they sell. If they sell similar kinds of products, identify what makes their products so “saleable” and what kind of marketing strategy is being used to sell them. For all you know, the difference may be in the type of listing they use for their products. They may have preferred the Buy It Now option instead of putting them on auction. On the other hand, if they sell products different from the ones you are selling, try to figure out if you can switch from your current products to this new range of products. Your competitors may also be investing their time and resources in other strategies such as sending newsletters to their clients or having auto response software to respond to queries of prospective buyers. The idea behind doing all this is to borrow interesting ideas and incorporate them in your listings to make them “hard to resist”.

If you feel that your listings are as good as those of your competitors or even better, then probably you need to reconsider the products being offered on sale. There is a good chance that your products have become outdated or not appropriate for the current season. Simply stash them away for a while to re-list them in future. If the products have been in the listings for quite some time, but have failed to grab attention of buyers, just sell them off through a garage sale and reload a fresh list of products.

Plan ahead… start collecting products well in advance so that you can showcase them when the time is right!!! If you specialize in gift items, work on your listings, gather some unusual gift articles and flaunt them when during Christmas or New Year….

Your eBay feedback is your biggest eBay selling tool bar none. If you have bad eBay feedback you will struggle to make sales and your eBay business will suffer. Therefore you must protect your eBay feedback as much as possible. Here are 10 tips that will help you maintain an excellent feedback rating.

1. Always be polite in all correspondence. This goes without saying, always treat your customers with respect and give them a pleasant buying experience. By doing so you may gain a customer for life.

2. Avoid excessive shipping charges. If you charge $10 shipping for an item and the cost is only $3 you are leaving yourself open to negative feedback.

3. Mail your items as soon as possible. Don’t wait till the end of the week. Taking too long to deliver your goods means you are risking your feedback. You should always aim to have items packaged and sent within 48 hours of payment.

4. Make sure your item description is accurate. Don’t say your item is as good as new if it’s not. This is probably the most common reason for negative feedback.

5. Answer emails promptly. Don’t wait days and days to answer any queries. This only makes your customer frustrated and this can result in a negative comment.

6. List any flaws your item has. If the item you are selling has a scratch or mark say so or you could be left a negative comment for a poor item description.

7. Don’t retaliate to awkward customers. Sometimes you may get an awkward or offensive customer, that’s life. Don’t retaliate, just deal with their query in a polite and professional manner. This usually ends in the customer apologising and excellent feedback follows.

8. Accept returns. If a customer is not happy with your product for whatever reason allow them to return the item and refund their purchase minus shipping fees. You can then cancel the transaction through eBay and you will get your fees returned and therefore wont be out of pocket. This leaves you free to relist the item with your feedback intact.

9. Package your items carefully. If you are selling delicate items make sure they are packaged carefully with plenty of protection, the last thing you want is your customer to receive damaged goods.

10, Don’t leave feedback first. If you do you are leaving yourself open to negative comments. A happy customer will always leave feedback first, if you leave feedback first you will learn the hard way, trust me.

Remember! Your customer is a real living person. I think sometimes people forget this, try to make the whole buying experience as easy and pleasant as possible. Your customers are the lifeblood of your eBay business and your number one goal should be to make them happy. This can only result in excellent feedback and in turn success for your eBay business. 

Most people still don’t realise the benefits of selling digital products on eBay, so I have provided 10 good reasons why selling eBooks on eBay may not be such a bad idea after all.

1. You have no physical stock to hold. As the items you are selling are digitally stored on your computer or web server you never have to worry about having the space available in your home or office to store your goods.

2. Everything can be fully automated. That’s right, if you sell eBooks you don’t have to worry about delivering your stock to your customers, you don’t have to worry about rushing to the post office. It is possible to fully automate the whole delivery process.

3. Your customer gets their purchase instantly. As you can deliver instantly this means your customer gets their purchase right away, this is a very powerful selling tool indeed.

4. No postage costs. As you are selling a digital item your delivery costs are zero.  

5.  You can create your own products at will. I think we all dream of writing a book, well because of the digital age this has become possible. Anyone can create their own eBook on any topic they wish.

6. You can generate an affiliate income. If you create your own eBooks you can provide links to recommended products and services and generate an easy affiliate income.

7. Other eBay sellers can make you money. Allow your own eBooks to be sold by others and you can create a viral empire, all linking back to your websites, products and services.

8. You can build your mailing list. Simply give away a free eBook or report in exchange for some contact details. This can generate 1000s of potential leads you can follow up on and ‘build your list’.

9. You can be seen as an expert in any field. All it takes is to research your chosen topic on the internet, write about it and create an eBook that can make you money for years. As you are now seen as an expert in your chosen field you can create further products, websites and services and build your own niche empire.

10. You can have a product that is unique. How often do we see 100s of eBay sellers competing with each other selling the same products? Well in the digital age it is possible to create a product that is 100% unique to you. This means you control the price.

There you go, 10 simple reasons why selling eBooks on eBay may not be a bad idea after all.

Your eBay feedback is your biggest eBay selling tool bar none. If you have bad eBay feedback you will struggle to make sales and your eBay business will suffer. Therefore you must protect your eBay feedback as much as possible. Here are 10 tips that will help you maintain an excellent feedback rating.

1. Always be polite in all correspondence. This goes without saying, always treat your customers with respect and give them a pleasant buying experience. By doing so you may gain a customer for life.

2. Avoid excessive shipping charges. If you charge $10 shipping for an item and the cost is only $3 you are leaving yourself open to negative feedback.

3. Mail your items as soon as possible. Don’t wait till the end of the week. Taking too long to deliver your goods means you are risking your feedback. You should always aim to have items packaged and sent within 48 hours of payment.

4. Make sure your item description is accurate. Don’t say your item is as good as new if it’s not. This is probably the most common reason for negative feedback.

5. Answer emails promptly. Don’t wait days and days to answer any queries. This only makes your customer frustrated and this can result in a negative comment.

6. List any flaws your item has. If the item you are selling has a scratch or mark say so or you could be left a negative comment for a poor item description.

7. Don’t retaliate to awkward customers. Sometimes you may get an awkward or offensive customer, that’s life. Don’t retaliate, just deal with their query in a polite and professional manner. This usually ends in the customer apologising and excellent feedback follows.

8. Accept returns. If a customer is not happy with your product for whatever reason allow them to return the item and refund their purchase minus shipping fees. You can then cancel the transaction through eBay and you will get your fees returned and therefore wont be out of pocket. This leaves you free to relist the item with your feedback intact.

9. Package your items carefully. If you are selling delicate items make sure they are packaged carefully with plenty of protection, the last thing you want is your customer to receive damaged goods.

10, Don’t leave feedback first. If you do you are leaving yourself open to negative comments. A happy customer will always leave feedback first, if you leave feedback first you will learn the hard way, trust me.

Remember! Your customer is a real living person. I think sometimes people forget this Try to make the whole buying experience as easy and pleasant as possible. Your customers are the lifeblood of your eBay business and your number one goal should be to make them happy. This can only result in excellent feedback and in turn success for your eBay business. 

Some people think selling eBooks on eBay is easy. You just have to list a few eBooks with resale rights and wait for the money to roll in, right? WRONG!

There is a lot more to selling eBooks than just listing a few auctions. Here are 10 reasons why most eBay eBook sellers fail.

1. Selling old titles. In a highly competitive world you need to stay ahead of the competition. Be on the lookout for new titles to sell all the time.

2. Following the herd. Don’t be like every other eBay eBook seller, make your auctions different, create unique titles and sales pages to separate you from the crowd.

3. Poor eBook cover. People really do judge an eBook by its cover. Ensure you have a professional looking eBook cover.

4. Poor sales copy. Your sales copy is crucial; take your time getting your listings looking professional. Poor copy = poor sales.

5. Only selling other author’s eBooks. To be a truly successful eBay eBook seller you need to be creating your own eBooks. This way you can control the price and market by selling unique titles.

6. Not selling brandable eBooks. Sell eBooks that allow you to ‘brand’ certain links inside, thus generating you an affiliate income after the initial sale.

7. Not having a download page. Don’t send your eBook as an attachment or as a download link to a zip file. Create a download page where you can offer other products and services

8. Not capturing customer details. You should have tools in place that attempt to capture your customers email address. Offer free eBooks on your download page in exchange for your customers contact details. This means you can offer products and promotions in the future.

9. Not having an eBay store. Having an eBay store is crucial. This gives you your own unique URL you can promote in all communication with potential customers and will ultimately result in more sales.

10. Trying to make all your income on eBay. You need to think outside the box. After you have sold an eBook there are so many ways to make further sales and earn more money.

There you have it! 10 mistakes you should not make as an eBay eBook seller. If I can offer one last piece of advice it would be that you ensure you have all the tools in place to try and capture your customers email address. If you can do this you may have a customer for life and this is worth much more than a quick eBook sale.