Bringing in Traffic & Sales to your your eBay store

Some people have contacted me with concerns or requests for more info on how the traffic program is going. I wanted to update everyone. If you read the post right below this one you will get a basic overview. The answer so far is.. I am still testing this out! On December 12th I began a 30 day period of 25k in purchased hits. I am getting traffic, visitors (longer stays) and sales. eBay doesnt have the easiest system for drilling down for information on this but if you are really familiar with their advanced traffic reports for featured stores and familiar with your buying patterns and graphs you can narrow this down. The last time I checked I was only 13k through a 25k program of targeted hits. The total cost of my initial hit generating program here is 99 dollars. So Im about halfway through. Some people have had concerns about these type of companies with this traffic. So far my statistics and those provided by the hit company have seemed to match though there is a delay at times in my traffic reporting (it seems) through eBay. I am going to try to post a picture here to show you what happened to my traffic since December 12th when I started this. Also the graph you will see is what is called "VISITORS" these are longer stays, longer than just a click in and out apparently. My research has shown that there are a few good companies with this type of traffic but that there are many other "scams" . My personal opinion is that when eBay ended their keywords program the replacement program was something I couldnt even understand let alone try and has not worked for us. We are branching out to try a few new things and it might take a month or two of testing (so keep checking back) to really give an official opinion on this. I have a few different things I can try. First, I can try to run a lot less auctions and just bring this type of traffic in for January and run a few TA (Trading assistant) auctions where the customers pay the fees, and a few collectible auctions. The other thing I can try is the 7 day burst they offer where I bunch this all up in 7 instead of 30 days to see if I see a surge in sales. If you are curious and cautious dont try this until you get some more info from my trials :)

Increasing your Sales on eBay with Off Ebay Traffic

Hey everyone! I have some interesting information for you. Recently eBay has had it share of issues. The growth of sites like Youtube,Myspace and others has led to a decline in traffic on some sites such as eBay. As a result we are always working on ways to build traffic. When I was researching eBays traffic decline on Alexa.com I came across a company that redirects traffic from dead domain names to your site. I thought the concept was interesting. From what I gather someone can search for something like TomsGiftshop dot com and if Toms is closed they get taken over to you if you are a gift seller etc. So far I am 20-25% into my hit campaign and seeing very good results. It is not expensive to try and seems to work when adding off ebay hits to the existing eBay traffic. I will be posting additional info and graphs as I study this. Here is a banner below so you can check it out.

Huge Star Wars PEZ - The Value of Multiple Keywords in Selling

Hey everyone! It has been so long since I have posted to the blog here, my apologies! I have been busy selling and handling matters for my aunt's estate. Today I am going to review an important concept . That is the value of having items which contain multiple keywords of value when buyers are searching. For example.... You will see pictured here a set of Star Wars PEZ containers. This is a HUGE 12 inch high one! These items have "Star Wars" and "Pez" as two very valuable keywords. "Star Wars" has recently been listed as THE top keyword in collectibles! "Pez" is very high up there as well. These items thus can appeal to both star wars and pez collectors! We have other large PEZ items as well like Kermit Sesame Street Muppets PEZ and Big Bird Sesame Street PEZ , see how this works? All these by the way are MUSICAL PEZ containers and when you open them they play music! They dole out huge packs of PEZ not just individual candies! You can find these items in our store at http://Onceuponabid.com . We sometimes like to look for items with a "functional use" as well as popular keywords. For example, we sold out of another PEZ item recently. It was a "glow in the dark" "PEZ" " Freezer MUG" . It had a good use, was collectible for PEZ people, and then others like glow in the dark items. So look for multiple reasons people would want an item and that should help your ability to sell them! So far Miss Piggy PEZ has sold out.. lets us see who is next! Until later.....

What are Vintage Video games and why do they sell well?

It is hard to believe but enough years have past where we now have what are called Vintage Video games or even vintage computer software! Both categories sell fairly well on eBay though you might want to put the older software titles in the ebay store until the right buyer comes along. Vintage video games are sometimes called first generation games and are basically games that came out with some of the first gaming systems. Generally you would want items from 1990 or earlier to get any interest but there are some exceptions. Recently I picked up a bunch of vintage nintendo games from the late 80s for only $2.50 in total! I have shown you an example in the picture with this post. There are lots of great books out there on vintage video games, video game history and even some price guides. It is a great area to go into! Vintage computer software also sells well. Apparently some people still have the old pcs and like to buy items from time to time or they collect these now collectible software titles! You can see our listings at our eBay store at http://Onceuponabid.com

Halloween - the underrated holiday -Items to sell on ebay

Here you will see a few items we listed for Halloween sales on eBay. We have a animated Witch doll that is very cute, some stencils used to carve critters out of Pumpkins (like owls, cats, rabbits etc) and of course a spooky house. Halloween is one of those holidays that is growing rapidly in terms of retail sales and should not be ignored as a seller. You can find these items and many more in our eBay store at http://Onceuponabid.com

One Small Treasure Headed for A Castle -eBay

Well finally a nice story to share with you! This little lady you see pictured here was a framed print I picked up at one of those 1.00 a box auctions along with a lot of other stuff. I just thought it was the most awesome little find. She has character! She was painted by Velásquez and this piece was framed in Spain. What a nice little find for an old box of odd stuff! Well at first noone wanted her, and she didnt sell but on a second listing a bidding war broke out and she is now on her way to a house built like a castle and the buyer is so excited to see her. I had to share this with you! Keep your eyes out for anything with character, that stands out as different to you..

Selling From eBay Stores- Recent Fee Increases and News

Well the news is abuzz of some recent changes eBay has made to their fee structure. While fee increases are never popular this one seemed to arrive at a time when many ebay sellers were already struggling. eBay raised its monthly listing fees fairly dramatically and this caused many store sellers to close their stores or downsize them. While I was not sure what to make of the changes and how sales would be , I do see some positives amidst the haze here and I wanted to point them out to those still interested in selling successfully on the site. It clearly seems that those who stuck it out might be at an advantage as store inventory across the seller base has declined dramatically. Also eBay seems to be pushing what they call "Core" listings (listing in auction and fixed price format). We have been having very good results listing in fixed price format (where there is no bidding a buyer just pays a fixed price for an item) and our store sales have been fairly good lately and improving. My advice to those concerned about the changes would be to stick it out through the busy holiday selling season and look at mixing up your strategy some for better sales. I have a feeling with falling gas and fuel prices , interest rates leveling and starting to fall that the consumer will be spending in sort of snap back fashion and this holiday season might surprise people. Some retail stores are already boosting estimates! Hang tight, some good tips to come.... http://www.onceuponabid.com

Selling Items on eBay Noone Else Has - Christmas Decor

This morning's post is a reminder of one of the major themes an eBay seller wants to keep in mind. Whenever possible it is always good to have an odd item that noone else seems to be selling at the current time. I will show you one such item here. This is a Climbing Elves Kit from Better Homes & Gardens in the late 80s. Noone else has one for sale now. It appeals to a few different selling themes. First, Christmas themed decor, second kits where people create something are always popular, and of course one of kind on eBay type things. Despite the millions of items up on eBay at any given time there are many times when we have the only one of an item up for sale. It greatly increases the chances of selling that item since you do not have people competing with you AND because some people ask for too little for clearly collectible items!

Halloween Decor - Gurley Candles SPOOKY

Just a short post today on something I found while out at a tag sale this weekend. These are some spooky vintage candles that people love to collect. They are made by Gurley Candles and come in various freakish characters! I have them listed now on auction on eBay so let us see how they do. They usually sell fairly well! Halloween is second in spending to Christmas and becoming more and more popular every year. We have even more cool Halloween themed items going up in our store and they are probably a good bet for you to have in your store also! People buy things a few months ahead of time on eBay so start selling your spooky stash now! As always you can find our eBay store at http://www.OnceUponaBid.com .

(Google photo add is down now I will add a picture as soon as it comes back up!)

Selling on eBay - Vintage Playing Cards

One great thing to sell on eBay are vintage playing cards. There are tons of collectors for nice older cards and they especially like sealed packs. This week I added some great older cards. These are some of the nicest I have sold on eBay. One set has a Wedgwood Medallion pictured on the cards and both decks are sealed. Another card set is made by Clemente Jacques in Mexico and these are collectible also! Take a look at the picture of the Wedgwood deck (from 1946).

Retro 1980's MOD Hip Jacket Best ever sold on eBay!

Well this is a cool item! I have not listed it yet, but it will be listed soon. It is a retro JouJou 1987 jacket with cool designs and wording on it. I picked it up a Church thrift shop where for some reason I was able to get some amazing items really cheap this week. I will be listing this item soon on eBay. You can always find our store located at http://www.OnceUponaBid.com . This jacket fits the theme of unusual items you do not normally find anywhere! I have not found one jacket even remotely looking like this one!

If you are interested in this jacket send me an email at clhct1@aol.com for a special bidding coupon just for reading my blog! :)

Selling the Unusual -Stanhope , Space Station Kit , Religious items

Hey Blog readers! Today's post is about selling the unusual items on eBay. Often times people think in terms of competion on eBay. I feel whenever possible its a good idea to have little to no competition by finding oddball items and marketing them in creative ways. Recently I decided to persue this strategy a little more and listed 3 new items , 2 had bids within hours! I listed a vintage Space Station Kite, a carved bone rosary bead with a stanhope cross with a picture of the baby Jesus in it, and a carved wood (driftwood I think) sculpture of a Morada, a building used by a secret Catholic Society in New Mexico called the Penitente Morada. I will add some pics for you as soon as Google's pic manager starts working again LOL. I plan to offer more items in my new store category called Strange and Unusual! So stay tuned for that! Some people have asked me "what the heck is a Stanhope?" Well I did not know the term either until a friend told me about it. A stanhope is a term used to describe a small peep hole type window in an item that shows an image similar to a tiny piece of microfilm inside a viewing chamber. They really are amazing. You can do a quick search on the term stanhope on Google and get loads of info! You can see these items and many more at www.Onceuponabid.com (our eBay store). If you are interested in learning more about selling on eBay, my wife is an Educational Specialist for eBay and can be reached at Onceuponabid@hotmail.com . We offer tax consultations for eBay sellers in our eBay store (link shown above). If you really want to learn to sell on eBay and do it successfully we are definately the right people to talk to ! We are powersellers, trading assistants (sell items for others for commission), have an eBay store and a wide range of contacts across eBay seller groups .

Selling Vintage Belt Buckles

Sometimes the simple things work well. One area we have had continuous luck in since we started selling is with Vintage Belt Buckles. There are many collectors out there. It is a good idea to use supersize pictures and to show both the front and back of the buckle in your listings. We were told this by a few collectors back when we first started selling them. Here you will see a few buckles from the 1970s that are really cool to look at. Hopefully the buyers will like them also :) You can find them in our ebay store at http://www.Onceuponabid.com

June Update - Ebay Live! & Giving Twice with Charity

Hey everyone! I am sorry it has been a while since I have posted to the blog here! I have lots to tell you though ;) First, we attended eBay annual LIVE! Convention in Las Vegas , Nevada last week. I bought along the whole family and it was an excellent time. In addition to some courses and meeting vendors selling various tools to help you with your eBay business, we had some private get togethers with friends that were just awesome! I highly recommend eBay LIVE! for ebayers , so make sure you get to the next one in Boston. It will be in mid June of 2007 ( I believe Jun14-16th ) at the new Boston Convention and Expo center! While at eBay live we learned more about Givingworks on eBay. This is where you can specify a portion fo the proceeds from your listings on ebay to go to charity. It also brings more traffic into your listings! Here are some links to learn more about the service and some pictures of things we will have c in our listings running now! http://givingworks.ebay.com/sell/ Our store can always be found at http://www.onceuponabid.com (which takes you right to our eBay store!)

Selling Retro Vintage 50s Always Hot!

I just listed these Fish lamps from the 1950s. Colors of pinks & blues are often found on this type of decor which remains fairly popular on eBay. These were made in Italy and in really nice condition. They were too cute now to pick up when I saw them!

Incredible Sales but no Blog Posts? LOL

Well I guess it is a good problem to have. In February , eBay instituted a change to include store items in its main search on ebay.com. Since that time , sales have soared for almost everyone! March of 2006 turned out to beat our all time high sales month by over $1000! Normally the highest months of the year are leading up to Christmas when everyone buys holiday gifts. Sales have gone bonkers! That is a good problem to have , but the bad news is that eBay didnt like the way things were looking for some buyers and perhaps had some revenue worries due to things changing so they are changing this back!!

So in any case we have been doing some business in costume jewelry for first time. I dont have all that many pictures available yet, but costume jewelry is really hot on eBay and we plan to list a lot more since we just finished sorting thousands of pieces! In the pictures above you will see a Red Claro Vintage Beach*Star Watch. A lady in the tub pin and another pin that I just love (of course the one I love is the only one of the three that didnt sell ;) LOL

I hope to be posting more often here now that Tax season for us accountants is almost over so please continue to stop in!

Selling - Older Puzzles Think Round ! Springbok

Hey Everyone! I am sorry its been a while since I posted to the blog. Its tax season for us accountants and we have been swamped ! I wanted to post another in our series of cool items to sell on eBay. This time we can talk about Jigsaw puzzles. One of the best names to look for is Springbok. These puzzles seem to have developed a nice following and the older ones can sell for good money on eBay! I am working through a pile of older Springbok puzzles I picked up at a tag sale last year. The better ones are the older ones that are circular or octagon in shape. These tend to fetch the most dollars! If you have time or a nice relative that likes to assemble puzzles it is good to put them together to see if they are complete (have all the pieces) as this definately adds to the price you might get! Here are some pictures. We usually show a picture of both the box and the assembled puzzle! Ill check in with you all soon!

Selling on eBay - Getting Better Pictures to sell more items

Hey everyone! I wanted to talk a little about taking better pictures for eBay listings. Good pictures help sell items, but even with the great new digital cameras that are being sold, taking good pictures is often difficult. My wife and I are certainly no picture taking experts, so we searched for a tool to help us. We purchased what is called a photo deflector on eBay. This is a briefcase like item that opens up and reveals some reflective white paper on the inside that allows you to place you item in it and then take the picture with the flash. With a little photo editing you can get some really great pictures that make your items appear to float in space! Here are some examples below! Photo deflectors run about $100 and the eBay seller Sharpics was selling them last I checked.

Please remember to check out our cool items in our ebay store located at http://www.OnceUponAbid.com

Selling - Older neat Vintage Toys on eBay.

One thing I love about eBay is finding a lot of very cool things to sell. Things that I never knew existed. I learn about the items as I research them and wonder why we dont have such wonderful things made today. I am one of those people that think we lost a little something as everything became mass produced and made from cheaper materials. Here are a few neat things I picked up over the last week or so that I have listed in my store. One is a set of Russian made building blocks that go back a while. They assemble a neat looking tower which has a four clock face at the top representing a real building in Moscow. The other pictures are of a 60s era spinning top made by Sidney A. Tarrson Co. (also branded "Tarco Toy"). Arent those little figure the cutest things you have ever seen? They are in a balloon flying in their little spinning world! I love it! Thanks for checking out my blog, please stop back again soon for some excellent new information!

Trading Assistant Business Made page 1 of Newspaper!

Hello fellow readers! We have some big news to share. We were contacted by a local reporter for the Meriden Record-Journal which serves Meriden and Wallingford , CT and we were featured in a story that ran on page 1 at the top of the newspaper along with a huge color picture of my wife! This story concerned selling things you might have received for Christmas that you might have doubles of or do not want etc. It also discussed our trading assistant business and it has already resulted in some good calls. Although we were contacted in this case, do not hesitate to contact your local reporters about your business as they like to do stories about eBay!

Here is picture for you!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We went out of 2005 with a record month (December) ! We sold more $$ of items in December 2005 than any month since we started selling. With the new year comes a heckuva lot of new goals which I will be discussing here with you.

We had some awesome stuff to sell and one of my favorites was this German Cabbage Patch doll that you see pictured here. The German Cabbage patch dolls are beloved for their larger freckles!

I also picked up an awesome set of Limoges serving and dinner plates which I have a picture of also here.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!