Selling on eBay? Here's a Success Tip for Your Online Auctions

by Rena Klingenberg

Are you planning to sell on eBay? Or have you tried in the past but not had much success with your online auctions? If so, here's a strategy that has worked very well for me. In my experience, the auction lots where I created a useful collection of related items got more bids and closed at higher prices than auction lots that were all one thing. For example, instead of listing an auction lot of a simple strand of rose quartz oval shape beads, why not create an auction lot of a neat little "designer collection" of beads? In this case, you could group some of those rose quartz oval beads with garnet rondells and freshwater pearl beads. These three stones work really well together, and this auction allows the winning bidder to have a lot more creative fun than he or she would with a group of all the same kind of bead. Combo auction lots like this tend to be more valuable and useful to bidders. In a single auction and for one shipping price, they can get a variety of items instead of just one. Another advantage of making combined auction lots is that your auction listings will contain more keywords that are being searched for by a much bigger group of bidders. For example, our designer bead collection auction could be found by bidders searching for rose quartz beads, bidders searching for garnet beads, and bidders searching for freshwater pearl beads. That's a significantly larger group than just bidders searching for rose quartz beads. And a good portion of bidders from all three keyword searches will be watching and considering your designer bead collection auction. Now here's where it gets really good: Not only do you have a higher demand for your combo auction lots - you also don't really have any competition for the exact auction lot you're offering. Other sellers might offer rose quartz ovals, or garnet rondells, or freshwater pearl beads - but not all three together in one temptingly color-coordinated auction lot. If a bidder wants this bead combination, your auction is the only one available to bid on. So according to Economics 101, high demand + low supply = higher closing price. You can make tempting kits or package deals of other auction lots no matter what your niche is. Here are a few ideas: * assorted colors of polymer clay plus some basic clay tools * inkjet cartridges plus two packs of fancy printer paper * padded shipping envelopes plus tape * scrapbooking pens, stickers, and a paper cutting tool To bidders, these combination auction lots are much more appealing and valuable. If you're a regular seller of combo auction lots, you'll quickly gain a following of eBay buyers who always check your current auctions to see what irresistible new combinations you have available. Writer and jewelry artist Rena Klingenberg publishes jewelry marketing secrets several times a week in her Jewelry Business Blog . You'll also find wisdom from eBay experts in the collection of eBay success tips on her main website.

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