Before you proceed we suggest you read the previous post on pricing principles and how they work if you haven’t already. Remember auctions work best for the limited supply crafts. These are the advantages of selling crafts on eBay and other similar auction sites.
The demand sets the price. The more people looking to buy your craft the higher the auction price is likely to surge. The final selling price can be much higher than what you’d would have sold it for otherwise.
Auctions are a good indicator of “Buy It Now” fixed price.
If your craft repeatedly sells at a particular high price in an auction, you are perfectly justified in using that figure as a benchmark to set the fixed-price when selling on other platforms such as Etsy.
No one can complain about the price being too high as you already sell that craft for that amount of money.
Some people do not like to go through the bidding routine or even wait to see whether they will end up winning the auction or not. Therefore, it is a good idea to have your craft selling for a fixed price on other platforms as well.
Tool for Experimenting With Ideal Selling Price.
Auctions are easy to set up on eBay and it are a great tool to experiment with your pricing. You can get a very good idea of how much you should sell your craft for.
Keep in mind that for an auction to be successful it has to generate traffic and interest. Start with writing a good sales copy and taking very good product pictures. Sites like eBay are really heavily trafficked. There is a very good chance of your auction draw traffic and attention.
Do try and stand out by making a good listing with ample details, good photography and targeted headlines. You can get even more attention by paying a little extra for the premium listing and using features like positioning boost, additional headlines, additional photographs etc.
Start with studying some of the auctions that are already doing well. Figure out what they are doing right and tried to emulate the points of strength.
It is equally important to let interested people know when you are going to auction your craft. If you have some sort of contact list let them know when you are going to start the auction in advance.
We will talk more about building a list and sending newsletters in detail in another post. For the time being, mailing your contacts or letting them know on your Facebook page can be sufficient.
A useful tactic you can use to garner even more attention to your eBay auctions is listing your craft as part $.99 auction. We understand that it may sound scary to list your hard work for sale for just one dollar. But the fact is that this is the most popular auction format on eBay.
It is rare that our product actually sells for that one dollar. The only exception where this would happen is if just one or two people find your option. Ensure that it is not happen by making a quality listing with good copy and pictures and driving as much traffic as you can personally as well.
Understand why $1 auctions work.
- Several buyers look specifically for the one dollar auctions.
- It is unlikely that a person will not bid one dollar for your craft because after all it will be a steal at that price. It’s a chain reaction from that point.
- If $1 is considered a steal, then so is $2. Therefore the next person is likely to increase the bid and so on and so forth. The more people bid, the more they tend to get involved in the auction.
- The perceived value of your craft goes up with each and every bid and more people begin trying to buy it.
- Auction buyers hate to lose out on something that they are trying to buy.
Needless to say the serious buyers will raise the bids till one of them wins the craft when the auction ends. It is very possible that’s the buyers who just missed buying your craft this time will try again in your next auction.
Go ahead and list your first auction on eBay. You will be very pleasantly surprised.
Let us quickly recap what we have said about selling on eBay auctions.
- Start with taking good photographs.
- Write good product headlines with keywords that the buyer is likely to be searching for.
- Pay a little extra for premium listing that allows you to put additional subtitles, photo galleries etc.
- Write good product descriptions that are complete in every detail.
- Offer a money-back and satisfaction guarantee.
- Create a limited time and limited number auctions to create scarcity. This creates a sense of urgency for the buyer to buy.
- Use photo hosting websites to put even more pictures of the craft in addition to the ones that you upload on the auction listing.
- Try to set a schedule for auctions, as often or rare as you like. This way people know when to turn up to buy on your next auction.
I enjoy sewing kitchen items, tea towels aprons made with a lightweight bath towel, and a few other types of aprons. I appreciate you taking the time to write these articles. I do have an Etsty shop at Twilasewsandmore. I guess I just needed a boost on how to list things to draw attention. I want to thank you!