Selling on eBay sounds simple in theory. Decide what you want to sell, get it, list it, then sit back and enjoy the profits! In reality, while it's easy to start a business on eBay, making sure it's profitable is a bit more difficult and depends on eBay prices.
After all, while it would be great if we did our business just for fun, that's not the case and the whole point of an eBay business is to make a profit - and a decent one at that.
Anyone can simply “spin money”. On the other hand, making a profit is why eBay businesses start, so you have to.Get the right prices from eBay. Not just to make a profit, but to position your products competitively in your niche.
Optimize your eBay listings
Optimizing Your eBay Listingsto make sure you doofferit can be intimidating. There are many factors to consider – your description, keywords, images, shipping options and of course your price are also crucial. As much as we like to think your price shouldn't matter when you're selling a quality product - it really does. And if your products aren't priced appropriately, they don't have a fair chance of selling.
You want to make money and how you set your prices shows buyers the value you place on your product. Your product may be of fantastic quality, but you don't want to alienate shoppers with overpriced prices. Also, you don't want to set your prices so low that shoppers dismiss your product as a budget option and "too cheap for good quality."
Most shoppers consider a number of factors when making a decision to purchase a product online:
- Preis
- Shipping
- shipping and delivery speed
- stock availability
However, price is definitely one of the most important influencing factors, so you should think carefully when setting your eBay prices. This determines how likely a potential customer is to become a paying customer!
Accordinglysmart price"A 1% price improvement can result in an 11.1% increase in operating profit," so it's clear that getting eBay's price right is an essential part of your listing strategy.
what not to do
- Don't set eBay prices based on what YOU want to achieve.
- Don't "guess" how much buyers might pay for your product.
- Do not calculate whether a product is profitable AFTER purchase!
So how should you set your eBay prices effectively? There are several logical steps you should take, starting with formatting your offer.
eBay Pricing: Auction Style or Fixed Price?
To some extent, the type of eBay listing you choose will dictate your pricing strategy. You have the option of using an auction style listing or a fixed price listing on eBay. Your choice is based on your product and your demand.
Auction style listings
With an auction-style listing, buyers bid on your product for a set period of one, three, five, seven or 10 days, and the highest bidder at the end of the auction wins your item.
Auctions are usually set with a low starting bid, typically 99p, to ensure your product gets noticed and of course to encourage bidding.
There is also the option of setting a reserve price in an auction – a minimum amount you are willing to sell your product for. If the reserve price is not reached by the end of the bidding, your product will remain unsold. Alternatively, you may want to set up a Buy Now (Fixed Price) backup, which gives buyers the option to Buy Now instead of bidding.
The advantages:Your product may sell at a higher than expected price if many bidders are competing for the product, so excellent profits can be made.
The disadvantages:It is the market that determines the final selling price of your item. This means that you will never have a clear idea of your profit until your offer closes. In addition, you also run the risk of your product being sold at a loss or not being sold at all. You also have to wait for your auctions to end so the sale doesn't happen right away.
Best for:One-off or one-off products (new or used) that are in high demand or products that don't need to sell quickly and for which you are willing to wait for the "best price".
Fixed Price Offers
Alternatively, you can only list your products in the fixed price (buy it now) format. This is simply a fixed price that you set, allowing buyers to buy your products right away.
You can choose to list multiple quantities for 10 days, 30 days, or Good Until Cancelled. The Best Deal option is also available for fixed price offers. This allows buyers to bid on your product based on their willingness to pay - so you decide whether to accept a counter offer or make a counter offer.
The advantages:You can list several products for a long time and more or less forget about them! Shoppers can shop and checkout quickly, which is an attractive option for anyone looking to get their hands on a product quickly. As a seller, you always know how much profit you are making thanks to the fixed price. The "Best Offer" feature can also help you if your products are slow to sell - optimize your price based on the most popular offer prices and you'll get more sales!
The disadvantages:You need to do your research well and set your price accordingly. Some initial price adjustments are required to get the listing price correct.
Best for:Generics you want to sell in bulk and fast!
The listing style you choose is based on your goals and will determine how you set your prices on eBay, but whichever listing method you choose, before creating a listing you need to calculate:
- product cost
- eBay and PayPal Fees
- Shipping costs including packaging
If you choose auction-style bidding, you'll need to make sure your initial bid covers the cost of the product, eBay fees, and shipping to break, even if the product doesn't bid. This means you might not be able to start bidding at 99p (unless you're willing to risk a loss).
With a fixed price offer, you don't risk missing out because your price is static, guaranteeing you a profit.
So how do you determine the best price you can get for your products? Research is key.
Related:The Definitive Guide to Selling for eBay Sellers
3 Steps to Effective eBay Pricing
1. Use eBay's Suggested Retail Prices
eBay is a competitive place, that much is known. But checking all your competitor's prices would not be a good use of your time. Also, it would take forever, and even then, with that information, it would still be confusing trying to figure out where your prices should rank among everyone else.
This is where eBay's price recommendation tool can help you. It's an easy way to find the average price for products similar to yours. But a word of warning - it's just a recommendation and the data is computer generated with some reports saying prices are often a little low, so you'll want to do some additional research as well. It is also only available on the US, UK and DE websites. That said, it's a good starting point to get you in the right area.
When you list a new product, eBay will show you a price range along with a helpful graph that shows how likely your product is to sell at one of the specific recommended prices.
Then, when editing the offer details, you'll also see the adjustments made to your product's likelihood of selling. You can also use the "Sold Items" function and you will see all similar products in the same price range that have already sold. So at least you can be sure that this is not a totally arbitrary price recommendation.
2. Look for similar listings on eBay
As we've already established, checking your competitors' listings to see their prices is likely to be a challenging task. However, some level of competitor pricing research is essential to help you make the best decision for your own eBay pricing.
The easiest way to do this for free is to use eBay's advanced search option.
To find specific products, enter your keywords. For example, if you sell a leather wallet, add your keywords and hit search. If you like, you can also enter other details such as price range, condition and shipping options to compare the prices of products closest to yours. The more specific you are, the better you can determine the best price for your product.
This search returns results for your product, so you can see current listings for similar items and their list prices, allowing you to calculate the average.
If you want to go a step further and only show listings that have sold, simply check the Sold Listings box to filter the results.
Viewing the results of sold listings will give you a clearer idea of how much and in what quantities similar products have sold, allowing you to better evaluate your eBay products.
Filter further with purchase formats and condition filters:
3. Integrate price psychology!
Okay, while it's not necessarily a way to determine the best price, once you've done the basic research by considering eBay's recommendations and your own research, you should be able to add a little psychology into the mix to let go. In fact, you can change a buyer's perception of a price simply by changing what the price actually looks like.
A product priced at $9.99 seems like a more attractive deal than the same product priced at $10.01, even though there's little in between.
The same applies to rounded numbers; $20 seems lazy and looks like they rounded it up to make it nice and neat, while $19.97 seems like a fair price that was thought through!
So it's not just your price that counts, but your actual numbers when it comes to pricing on eBay!
The best part about applying a little psychology to your eBay pricing is that you can still get sales even if your product is priced higher than the competition.
Keep your eBay prices effective
Once you've decided on pricing, you should be aware that adjustments may be needed from time to time, meaning price increases and decreases. This can happen due to new competitors, higher demand, lower demand or factors beyond your control such as: B. Economic events. Taking the time to do your due diligence and test your pricing is the best way to track the effectiveness of your eBay pricing.
1. Never undercut your competition
This is a surefire way to start a race to the bottom. You've lowered your competitor's price, and before you know it, they've come back to you and lowered their price too. So do you. They do, until eventually your wares sell well below their true market value and neither of you makes a profit. If another seller hurts you, stand your ground.
2. Don't underestimate your costs
It's not just the cost of your product you need to consider. Added to that are eBay and PayPal fees, your shipping costs, including all packaging materials. So you have time. This is a huge part of your cost of doing business that is often overlooked. You've spent time researching and purchasing products, if you're not using a fulfillment service, you've spent hours packing and shipping orders - these costs must also be considered.
3. Consider price negotiations
Testing is key, and using the Best Deal option for your fixed price offers gives you the opportunity to negotiate with your customers in the most convenient format. Once you calculate your profit margins, you will know whether or not you can enter trades. If you get a lot of offers well below the list price, chances are your product is a little pricey - use this information and lower the price. The same applies if you get few offers and no sales. If you only receive moderate offers and they are only slightly below the asking price, your price is probably okay.
Related:8 Proven Ways to Recession-Proof Your eBay Business
final thoughts
When it comes to eBay pricing, you don't have to set the same price as your competitors, just use eBay pricing as a starting point. How you price your products not only determines whether you attract buyers, but also puts you in a better position to be successful.eBay Status as a Top Rated Seller, making it more visible in search results.
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