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A
Picture Paints A Thousand Words and Creates
Auction Euphoria
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by:
Mike Ralph
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Ever
since I sold my first item on ebay I have been addicted to the site and
I have steadily developed it as a supplementary source of income over
the last two years. As I gained experience from listing items, I
rapidly became aware that the inclusion of pictures in the listings was
a major selling point as buyers could literally see what they were
buying and as such create a greater interest and desire within them
which in turn led to greater selling prices.
To sum it up in one sentance :
Pictures attract attention, help explain details and more importantly
stimulates desire which leads to Auction Euphoria.
Auction Euphoria is that process whereby
the desire to own an item is that great that all logic goes out the
window and the buyer rebids to ensure that they win it, thus increasing
the selling price.
This simple bit of knowledge has allowed me to push my final selling
prices up on average between 10-30% and as such it amazes me that so
many listings do not include one picture and just type out the details
in one long line of text (usually all in capitals!). I am not
complaining however because this fact alone has allowed my auctions to
stand out and make the money.
I started off using eBays add additional photo service to include extra
images in my listings which people could use as a reference point and I
found out the following :
1. Always make sure that the image is clear and of the actual item for
sale, otherwise what is the point of including it? You will find that
poorly presented pictures suggest that the seller doesn't care and
hence will devalue the potential selling price of the item which is of
no use to anyone.
2. Never use a stock photograph of the item for sale, with the increase
in fraudulant transactions (especially on the higher value items) this
will serve to put the buyer off, again serving to devalue your final
selling price. Taking a little extra time to get an actual photograpah
shows yours buyers that you care and will endear them to you.
3. Where possible use a digital camera, these are very easily
accessable nowadays and relatively cheap and they produce excellent
images. A webcam can also be used but does give a grainier picture.
Remember the cost of the digital camera can be offset by the gain in
final selling prices.
4. Have good lighting on your images a poorly lit image may as well not
be there. Where possible I take mine outside into the garden, put it
onto a chair with white paper behind it and take advantage of the
natural light. Its a few minutes work that pays dividends in the end in
cold hard cash!
5. Never just use one image, always use at least two. I tend to use one
image for every one of the details (or faults) that I mention in the
listing. This illustrates what you are actually trying to describe and
helps to prevent the dreaded negative feedback of 'the item wasn't as
described'.
Using the above meant my auctions stood out and I was considered to be
true to my word by my buyers so much so that I have multiple return
buyers and the Auction Euphoria effect is evident on my auctions as
there regularly go for higher prices than similar items listed on eBay.
As I developed my auctions I realised that using eBays additional
picture service was COSTING ME a large proportion of my profit so I
looked into other ways of getting my pictures on my listings. I also
realised that the format of the listings was another major factor. I
wanted to use the additional pictures to illustrate a detail or fault
but it was no use having the picture at the bottom of the listing away
from the description as per eBays standard approach.
So I did some research and learned that the answer to my problems was
HTML to generate a template for my listings and allow me to pull my
images into them without having to use eBays image service, sure it was
still gonna cost me to host my own images but no where near what eBay
was charging me. Using this has meant that my eBay Listing Fees have
dropped by nearly 90%.
My buyers then started to ask me if they could use my templates and how
they could include images on thier listings, advice which I always gave
to them. I then decided to put this advice together on a few webpages
so that they could use it as a reference and to upload some of the
templates that I have used in the past so that anyone can use them for
FREE.
I hope that these simple bits of advice help you to take advantage of Auction
Euphoria, and really develop your profits from the amazing,
and addictive, animal that is eBay auctions.
About the Author
Mike - Webmaster and eBay Power Seller.
Online
Auction Trader
FREE eBay Selling Templates, can be used by anyone you dont need to ask
my permission to use them anywhere you want.
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