Auctions with photos sell much better than ones that don’t have pictures. Try to take a picture of actual item that you are selling. Many Ebay sellers will use stock photos or photos from internet. This is a turn off and raises a question in buyers mind. People can tell it is not original item and this could hurt your bids. Show buyer that you are honest and have nothing to hide. If you put a picture of actual item, it builds more trust between you and buyer. In my case, I have bypassed auctions with stock photos. If you don’t have a digital camera, you can always purchase a disposable camera. When you take camera in to be processed, tell them that you would like to have photos placed on a CD.

5. Make Buying process Easy! Sign up for PayPal!

You want to make your auction easy for buyer. PayPal is becoming very popular and many buyers prefer to pay with their PayPal accounts. The easier you make your auction, better it is. In addition, you don’t have to worry about bad checks or money orders. It is a safer payment method for both buyer and seller.

6. List your items during "Hot Time" buying Periods!

Time your auction so that it ends during peak buying times. If you live in Eastern Time Zone, list your auction between 9pm-11pm, Central Time Zone list between 8-10pm, Mountain Time Zone between 7-9pm, and for Pacific Time Zone list between 6-8pm. Thus, this will give you biggest exposure at end of your auction. If your auction ends at 2 in morning, there won’t be to many people placing a bid. The debate is out as to what day your auction should end on. Some sellers report that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are best. Other sellers report that Saturday and Sunday are best. Try experimenting with this to see what works best for your auctions.

7. Create an "About Me" Page on Ebay or another Free Website Page!

An "About Me" page can be critical to your success. It gives you chance to let potential buyer know about you and your products. You can also get a free webpage from many companies in which you can promote yourself and your ebay auctions.

8. Feedback is Critical!

An ebay buyer looks at feedback ratings. A negative feedback rating can ruin your chances of being successful. After your auction is over, please follow up with your buyer. Send them an email or call them if you have their phone number. Make sure that they are happy with their purchase. This is also important with your description. If you weren’t honest with your description, buyer might be very disappointed and give you a negative rating. Ensure that your buyers are happy!!!

9. Excessive Postage costs can prevent bids!

Be reasonable with your shipping costs. Calculate costs ahead of time and only charge buyer a reasonable amount. It is not worth trying to make a couple extra dollars off buyer because it will scare many people off. Charge buyer actual cost of shipping and state this in your auction so that there are no secrets. Be honest and buyer will appreciate this.

10. Reserve Prices and Buy-it-Now can scare away potential buyers!

Buyers can be scared off by Reserve Prices and Buy-it-Now. In addition, Reserve Prices can limit your final auction price. Buy-it-Now shows that you have a certain limit to sell product at. This is an auction! Let buyers keep bidding at your products. If they feel they are getting a deal, they will place a bid.

You can be very successful on Ebay but you need patience and you need to do your homework.

Have fun with Ebay!

Then 20 seconds on local / cable TV….. Then 60 seconds….. And on…and on.

Get a domain name, a website, software, design, hosting, auto responders, mailing list, Flash, Audio, Video, Keywords, Meta Tags, Keyword Density, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization…

Ask a few friends to hand out some leaflets for you, create a reseller program, an affiliate program, an introducer scheme, get software, systems, Advertising Agencies, Copywriters, Professional Marketers, International Business Promoters…..

Where will it all end? With an army of Armani suited Harvard Graduates jet-setting all over planet, trying to sell your widget?

Once virus infects, it spreads, it grows and it can get out of hand very quickly.

Your ‘Jigsaw Puzzle’ is infected, infection has spread, and grown and replicated couple of pieces you originally started with, and turned into something unmanageable.

Just as you cannot take antibiotics to cure a virus in health, there is no simple cure in business.

Prevention is best cure.

Your Jigsaw Puzzle should start with simplest of forms…. 2 pieces (remember 2 parts to basic business? Supply & Demand - have a product or service which people want or need, and give it to them (well…. Sell it!).

Make sure first two pieces of your puzzle fit together perfectly, before you even think about adding pieces.

Once first 2 are set, then perhaps consider expanding your jigsaw puzzle but ONLY ONE PIECE AT A TIME.

Once that third piece fits, then move on. Don’t try adding multiple pieces all at same time, and trying to fit them altogether in one go.

If you’re first few (2, 3 or 4) pieces of your puzzle don’t fit, then STOP.

Stop right there. Reassess situation.

If you cannot get pieces to fit correctly before moving on, then perhaps that piece of jigsaw, doesn’t belong to your puzzle.

Many people fall flat on their face by ignoring this point.

If they cannot fit pieces, they put them to one side, and get more pieces to try….. And some of them won’t fit, put them aside…. Get some others…

INFECTED!!!

The final part of article goes back to our army of Armani Suited Harvard Graduates… remember them?

The point of that paragraph was to illustrate how ’infection’, if unchecked, will go on and on… where will it end?

Is your Jigsaw Puzzle ’infinite’? How far will you push your business? Is there a point where it’s just too much?

You may have carefully put together your jigsaw puzzle - completed - finished….. And you may not even realize it!

Know when and where to STOP… and BLOCK Virus.

An article by Gary Durkin Founder of the Internet Advice Center® http://www.InternetAdviceCenter.com

Gary has more than a decade of offline international business success behind him, and has been doing business online for 6 years.

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