http://www.auctioninsights.info/idea-hotspots.html Unique Tips and Tools for eBay Auction Users Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:14:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.auctioninsights.info/idea-hotspots.html#comment-17989 Rich K. Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:26:05 +0000 http://www.auctioninsights.info/idea-hotspots.html#comment-17989 All good suggestions. I might add that something else to keep in mind are things such as the time of year - holidays, and so forth. As for using newspapers, the lifestyle sections are okay, but more importantly in some cases are the headlines themselves. Someone or thing that is 'hot' in the news can elevate sales related to that person or thing. Brick-and-mortar stores tend to be too localized - in other words, they may show a LOCAL trend, but that may have no real application in the eBay world. As for hobbies, most popular hobby items will sell to those interested in each particular hobby. Items such as model trains, RC planes, and things of that nature are usually good sellers. Especially during the season, just about anything NASCAR will go. A lot is just common sense, and doesn't require endless hours of research. One of the best sources you can utilize is simply looking at the completed sales on eBay - see what's been selling and how WELL it has been selling. IF you have some particular items that are not doing well at the moment, it won't hurt to hold on to them for a while. People who buy on eBay tend to be fickle at times. What might be dead in the water right now might be hot as lava a month or even a week from now, and what's going like crazy at the moment may fall flat as soon as tomorrow. It seems that eBay continues to make it difficult for folks to make profit, with their ever-increasing prices for sellers. I don't know where the mentality comes from that say the way to make more profit is by increasing the costs - this doesn't work in any real-world scenario (other than perhaps the oil industry). They seem to forget that what made them as big as they are was the sheer VOLUME of all the little sales that added up to lots of $$$. It's like thing like taxes - no country in the history of the world has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Lower taxes, and increase the tax base. It doesn't require a degree in economics to figure that out. With that in mind, you need to be a bit more aggressive with your sales, and try to promote and display them in the best way possible. One site to keep in mind is Auctiva, where you can use templates, multiple and supersized pictures and so forth for FREE. It costs 15 cents a picture after the first picture at eBay, 75 cents to supersize, 10 cents for scheduling, for using templates, and so on - all things which you can have at no cost by running your listings through Auctiva. Using the 'trend' sites can be insightful to a point, but most of these trends tend to get out-dated rather quickly. Again, the best was to judge a trend on eBay is to simply look at the completed listings - that will show you the most recent trends, and give you a better idea of what's hot and what's not. All good suggestions. I might add that something else to keep in mind are things such as the time of year - holidays, and so forth. As for using newspapers, the lifestyle sections are okay, but more importantly in some cases are the headlines themselves. Someone or thing that is ‘hot’ in the news can elevate sales related to that person or thing. Brick-and-mortar stores tend to be too localized - in other words, they may show a LOCAL trend, but that may have no real application in the eBay world. As for hobbies, most popular hobby items will sell to those interested in each particular hobby. Items such as model trains, RC planes, and things of that nature are usually good sellers. Especially during the season, just about anything NASCAR will go.
A lot is just common sense, and doesn’t require endless hours of research. One of the best sources you can utilize is simply looking at the completed sales on eBay - see what’s been selling and how WELL it has been selling. IF you have some particular items that are not doing well at the moment, it won’t hurt to hold on to them for a while. People who buy on eBay tend to be fickle at times. What might be dead in the water right now might be hot as lava a month or even a week from now, and what’s going like crazy at the moment may fall flat as soon as tomorrow.
It seems that eBay continues to make it difficult for folks to make profit, with their ever-increasing prices for sellers. I don’t know where the mentality comes from that say the way to make more profit is by increasing the costs - this doesn’t work in any real-world scenario (other than perhaps the oil industry). They seem to forget that what made them as big as they are was the sheer VOLUME of all the little sales that added up to lots of $$$. It’s like thing like taxes - no country in the history of the world has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Lower taxes, and increase the tax base. It doesn’t require a degree in economics to figure that out.
With that in mind, you need to be a bit more aggressive with your sales, and try to promote and display them in the best way possible. One site to keep in mind is Auctiva, where you can use templates, multiple and supersized pictures and so forth for FREE. It costs 15 cents a picture after the first picture at eBay, 75 cents to supersize, 10 cents for scheduling, for using templates, and so on - all things which you can have at no cost by running your listings through Auctiva.
Using the ‘trend’ sites can be insightful to a point, but most of these trends tend to get out-dated rather quickly. Again, the best was to judge a trend on eBay is to simply look at the completed listings - that will show you the most recent trends, and give you a better idea of what’s hot and what’s not.

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