eBay Q&A Round 1

You asked! Here are some answers:

With all of its challenges, is eBay still more rewarding than monetizing a blog… from a work-at-home parent’s perspective?

I don’t know what kind of monetizing you are doing with your blog, but in my opinion, eBay is much more financially rewarding versus monetizing a blog. I can make $1,000+ a month selling on eBay, while it would take me quite some time to make that same amount through my blog. However, I am aware that many people do make upwards of $1,000 a month on their blogs, so the question then boils down to time.

With both eBay and monetizing a blog, the system will begin to manage itself at some point. The income becomes more and more passive as you move along, given a certain amount of maintenance and growth. However, after doing some affiliate marketing research this week, I couldn’t help but notice that the amount of time it took for me to set up a handful of affiliate marketing accounts that will probably result in a few dozen dollars, I could have used that same amount of time selling on eBay and made hundreds of dollars.

Again, this depends on the profit margin for your listings, however. If you are making only a couple of dollars per sale and then having to start from scratch again, versus relisting products of which you have multiples, the profit margin may not be worth the work.

Speaking of work, do you consider your blog work? If you are writing a personal blog and thinking of adding some ads here and there, but continuing writing just as you would without the ads, that is ideal passive income. You would not be doing any extra “work,” whereas eBay is definitely work that you wouldn’t be doing otherwise.

Do you work 50-50 doing eBay and your personal blog?

When my eBay store is fully stocked, I work more on my eBay store than my personal blog. However, my personal blog is just that: personal. I don’t do any SEO or other marketing. The handful of social networking sites I have dabbled in have taught me very quickly that you could make blog promotion a full-time job if you so chose. I don’t write my personal blog for financial gain. Though, if any of my readers want to give me any money…

Will you be discussing Turbo Lister in a future post?

Yes. However, I do not use Turbo Lister. I tried it for a while, but I prefer using Auctiva for my auction management and bulk listings. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of each in future posts.

Why do you say you would never start an item at $0.99?

This may just be a personal quirk of mine, but I feel like it does not lend my auctions much credibility. Most of what I sell is new, much of it high end designer goods. Starting my auctions at $0.99 creates doubt as to their authenticity. Too many, “How can she sell it for so little?” questions.

Additionally, I find that the majority of my sales are via Buy It Now. More specifically, most of my successful listings are when the format is a combination of a “Bid or Buy It Now” format.

• For instance, when my buyers have the choice between three identical listings, one listed as a Buy It Now, one as an Auction, and one as a combination of a “Bid or Buy It Now” option, all at the same prices (opening bids are the same/ Buy It Now prices are the same), the buyer will use the Buy It Now option on the “Bid or Buy It Now” auction.  They could have just as easily just bought directly from the Buy It Now only listing, but they rarely do.

I’ll go into more detail on the psychology of this later, but more and more eBay buyers want the thrill of an auction however the immediate gratification of being able to Buy It Now. They like the idea that someone else could swipe it out from beneath them, so they pay more to Buy It Now before someone can beat them to it, without the wait and hassle of bidding.

In my case, $0.99 listings don’t present enough confidence in the authenticity, let alone drama or immediate gratification.  Granted, there would be plenty of drama once the bidding truly began, but many buyers don’t want to wait that long, given the choice.  They’ll gladly pay for the option to not wait.

Why don’t you want to write “Top Ten” lists about eBay? Why no “How to…” posts?

Initially, I wanted eBay Selling for eParents to be more of a complimentary blog to so many other eBay blogs that do offer more of the nuts and bolts information. The internet is swamped with “Top Ten” eBay posts, so I had no interest in adding to the clutter. Rather, I wanted to give you somewhere you could go to for personal stories and explanations after you had done more basic “how to” research on your own.

The best laid plans… Through your comments and emails, however, it has become apparent to me that you would like some more nuts and bolts information offered here at eBay Selling for eParents. Although you can certainly find a gajillion “Top Ten” posts on other blogs and all the “how to” information you could shake a stick at, you would rather not have to look for them on your own. You want me to bring it to you. I hear you. I’m working on it.

Keep the questions coming!

This was just the start and we’ll get into more as I delve into more nuts and bolts business soon.  You can determine the direction of this blog, as I am absolutely writing it for you.  I don’t do this for the money (my checking account just said, “What money?“), so my motivation is entirely based on what I think you want.  It is much easier if you just tell me, of course.  So start bossing!