Increase Sales Over Night

Well a strong bold title Increase Sales Over Night, and yes it can be done, but you need to put some simple but for some people hard things into place.

Who reads the weekend papers , the best ones are the Sunday papers with all their added sections and the colour magazines ?

Ladies how many of you read Woman’s Magazines ?

Gents how many read lad mens magazines (And no not the top shelf ones)

And if you don’t please start to, they are full of ideas for items to sell. But that is another topic for another day as they say.

Something else I want you to do is start to keep all your junk mail – why , well for know just do it please.

Now cast your mind back, when was the last time you bought something through the mail……… either a real product or an information product.

For this example let us say it has some face cream, in the advert it said within 14 days you would look years younger etc etc. It looked good, the results read well, the price well was good. But at the back of your mind you thought what if it did not work I would loose $50.00.

You saw this cool gadget in a mens mag, that made your muscles grow and make you look fit, so all the girls wanted to go out with you. It looked good, the price was Ok, ……………. But again what if it did not work you would loose $100.00.

But there it is………………………………  In black and white………………………. (or colour)  something that made you reach for your credit card in seconds.  No not buy in 10 seconds and it is free.

A money back guarantee, no questions asked.

How many people in your niche use it ?   Guess not many.

Now please listen careful, and I hope this is you. This guarantee will only work if you are a honest eBayer or online seller. You only tell the truth and you do not sell rubbish and rip people off.
Now if you are one of these bad guys if yuo do it, you will be out of buisness in days………….. Sorry but thats the truth.

Right lets get back to the honest sellers of which 99.9% are.

A lot of people will look at your auction, buy it now and think yes I would love that product, but what if it does not work, what if I cannot use the cream etc.

Then their eyes catch that no questions asked guarantee, and they hit that buy it now button then and there. The reason is you have removed all the barriers.

Now as I said if you sell poor products, then you will be hit with refunds. But if you are a normal seller, selling great products then you will see an Increase in sales overNight.

And guess what your sales will go up and up but you will only get a tiny number of refunds.

A girl I know who works in direct response and sells a report on how to look good when going out clubbing did a test.

1)  Letter one went out, with no guarantee  and the price £20.00 she sold 1 in 100

2) Letter two went out, with no questions asked guarantee and the price £20.00 she sold 45 in 100. And she only had two refunds.

Go on give it a go, and see if your sales increase.

Happy Selling
Andrew

Tags: Education, eBay by andyuk
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What Can I Sell ?

Another big question that new and old people ask is “What Can I Sell“. Now I am going to through this back to you and ask what would you like to sell. ** A Side Note here please note that when I talk about eBay you can read it as other sites as well in general**

So What would you like to sell, and once you have answered that question then the “What Can I sell” will be answered for you.

One thing I always say to people you are allowed to sell anything as long as they stick to the terms of the sites you are selling on and each site is very different in what they allow.

But the What can I sell answer you normally get from me is

@ What do you sell comfortable in selling.

@ Would you mind your mother or grand-mother seeing you sell them

@ Would you feel OK about going on the Oprah show and talking about your product (Not taking into account the amount you would sell please but all your friends would see you)

@ Is it legal and ethical, and at night can you sleep.

Now if you stick to those statements above when you choose an item you will not go far wrong.

Once you have sold all your items from around your home or buisness and have got a feel for selling, shipping, listing, now is the time to look at what you can sell further.

Go to your ebay home page and click on the categories button :

Once you have done that scroll down the page you are taken to and click on where it says item count

The next page will show you all the main categories and the sub ones and also show you how many items are being sold in each area it looks like this, this is just a small example.

I would suggest you spend some hours or a few days on eBay going through these and see what you can sell, and also make a note of what is selling and not selling, so when you next say to your self “what can I sell” you will know how to do some very basic research

Hope this helps you and starts to answer the question “What Can I Sell“

Another eBay idea brought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Tags: Education, eBay by andyuk
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 Increase My eBay Sales

I guess that along with most of the other sellers out there in the great world of eBay, you have often said to yourself  ”If only I could increase my eBay sales” – now let me think you have made some notes, tried to look at other sites, and then sat back gave a sigh and said how do I Increase my eBay sales.

Well stop looking, stop reading, stop giving up…………………….. Honest it is real simple and has been staring you in the face for ages, right from the day you joined eBay as a seller.

First off there are many different ways to increase you eBay sellers and each one will work, but today I want to tell you about a very simple, very easy, and all it takes is a few clicks of a mouse, and then to turn up the heat just takes a few more minutes, but if you just follow the few clicks your sales will increase.

You need to sell worldwide, or in as many countries as you can. 

Step One – You need, to scroll down to the international postage section.

Step Two – You need to choose the flat rate section.

Step three – either choose worldwide or just the countries you want to sell to.

Now a tip here you have the UK postage will can be free or what ever, then on your Worldwide postage work it out for USA or Australia and once you have sent it, you can refund the difference if it does work out cheaper.

By doing that simple step of selling overseas and setting a worldwide post you item is visable on all eBay countries.

But, don’t you just love those buts…………………………….. If you are selling your item as a Buy It Now listing it will not appear on the eBay.com site unless the buyer has enabled there default setting to show international sellers.

To be on the safe side and to have your items appear on the eBay.com site you will need to go to eBay.com and list your item there. 

Now to go a big step forward you could if you wish list on each of the other eBay sites in the language that they use. For example if you can speak german, write your listing in German and list there, same for French, Italy etc, etc.

The advantage of doing this is that your item will appear in each country in their own language and not english, very simple but also powerful, very power.

So try it, by first choosing worldwide shipping and see the difference it makes to your views and then your sales. And soon, you will no longer be saying How do I Increase my eBay Sales.

Happy Selling

Andrew Milburn and My auction Empires

Tags: Education, eBay by andyuk
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List and they will come.

Well as they say in the film and the book……………………………………… Built it and they will come, well it is really true in the e-commerce world. Spend the time listing and your buyers will come.

This is true for eBay, Amazon , Bonanzle, Etsy and the list goes on and on. If you spend the time sourcing for new products (by new I do mean new as from wholesalers, but also new stock, spend time asking friends, family, going around yard sales, car boots, thrift shops, and charity shops and build up your stock.

But the important thing is, once you have bought your stock, go home and list it. If the pictures need taking do it, but list, list and list some more. Then once you have listed it all, go buy some more and list and list.

Now a very strange thing happens as you list your lookers will come and out of the lookers your buyers will buy.

This weekend a friend from Church told me he had bought over 500 books mainly Christian study books from our local Christian book shop. His idea was to sell these at car boots to raise some money for a Charity he supported.

Now he had a problem, the books were very niche, they were study books, he went to a few car boots paid his money to sell ( here in the UK it is around £5.00 each time), and he was asking for donations. He did sell a few, but for the time it took etc it was not really worth it.

I suggested he sold on Amazon to start with then eBay, he did not seem keen as he did not know what he was doing and at the time did not want to spend time learning, I did offer my services as an Education Specialist.

So I put my other hat on as a Trading Assistant and offered to sell them for him. Now I have sold books in the past and as most people know they can be hit and miss.  As I was listing on Amazon I knew all that would be wasted was some time on a Sunday Afternoon listing if it all failed.

I got him to bring two boxes to start with for me to see what was what and start the listing, well after 185 books only one was not found on Amazon and it was found under the title, and most were well over a £1.00, so I was happy

******** Now the important thing here is I did not pay for stock, so would not be out of pocket, but and a big but I found he had only paid 0.10p for each book, so it will be good profits all round and a good profit for the charity he is raising money for *******

Another lesson here is at 0.10p per item (it is items as there were a few cd’s and dvd’s in the boxes you can make large profits if they are sold at just a £1.00 but if you can get 1/2 of the RRP you will make very good profits.

I am writing this just under 20 hours from I listed the books and 12 have already sold and half those have already paid, so I think my friend will do OK.

Happy Selling and I hope this lesson not only helps you with eBay but all e-commerce platforms.

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Tags: Amazon, Education, eBay by andyuk
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Why Use Trackable Mail

In this posting I will try and explain why I use Trackable Mail and why I think everyone should use Trackable Mail.

And before I get those emails saying I know why you want us to use it you work for the Postal services, sorry the answer is no I do not.

The reason I use it is because it covers you the seller if the item goes missing in the postal system and it gives the buyer a sense of feeling important. Here in the UK if we use the Royal Mail there are two main types of trackable Mail one is Recorded Delivery and the other is special Delivery (this is next day guaranteed delivery).

Now the one I use is Recorded Delivery with 1st class post (at times I do use Special Delivery if the item is very urgent or is a certain weight).  The cost is an extra 0.78p on top of the stamps.

But I budget this into my product costings and I offer this as well even when I give free postage to buyers. Now why do I do this !!!!!

@  Reason One why I use Trackable Mail gives me a piece of mind and makes the buyer feel special.

@ Reason Two why I use Trackable Mail is that I can see when it has been delivered.

@ Reason Three why I use Trackable Mail if the customer says they have not had the item and I can see it has been delivered, I play it cool, I say I have checked online and it tells me that someone has signed for it, and I will email them a copy of the signature. And if it is not theirs I will take it further with the post office.  – Normally they say sorry someone signed for while they were out.

@Reason four  why I use Trackable Mail is if they say it has not be received I then tell them thats OK it is insured and covered by a trackable means, again normally you get the oh I had it. At this stage if they do not say this you explain you will get the refund out to them within 48 hours, and in the meantime you have emailed Royal Mail and put in a claim.
I then go on to explain how the claim process works, Royal Mail write or visit them and get them to fill out a few forms and sign some documents to say that they not had the items.

Now at this stage they will say sorry but it was had the other day and so and so signed for it.

Or it’s ok do not bother it was only a few quid, thanks for all your help and leave you positive feed back (they had the item but)

Or it was real and the item never turned up.

@ But another reason why I use Trackable Mail is if you read the terms and conditions on PayPal and eBay this is what they recommend you use.

So yes it does add a bit to your costings but well worth it end, so thats why I use Trackable Mail

Happy selling
Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

PS keep your eyes open, for every Monday I shall be bringing you tips and ideas on how to improve your eBay and online selling

Tags: Education by andyuk
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The Most Important Part
Of Your eBay Listing

One of the big questions as an eBay Education Specialist I am asked is “What is the most important part of an eBay listing ? Now depending on what you are selling (for example if you sell hand crafts maybe pictures are one of the important things as pictures sell). But always, always to me the most important part of an eBay listing is the title. If you get this wrong, you might as well pack up shop and find something else to spend your time on.

Sorry to be so blunt, but if you do not get the Title part right noone will see your read your advert. Your title will make or break you and your listing. so why is the title the most important part of your eBay listing

So how do you make sure you get the most important part of your ebay advert right?

Your title needs to draw attention to your advert.

Your title needs to draw the search engines : ebay, Google.

Also your title needs to be honest and not misleading.

Do not use words such as WOW, ~~~ ###, *** etc

Practice makes perfect, and very soon you will be able to write a title in seconds that is smoking hot, and pulls in views.

So there you have it why the title is the most important part of your ebay advert. Get started today start to learn to write an article that is hot, and that works.

Happy selling

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Tags: Education by andyuk
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A Workable ebay Selling System

When you first start selling on eBay or any of the online selling platforms you will be slow, that is just life, but over time you will become quicker and very soon you could be listing a dozen or more items an hour. Also it will depend if your items are one off items or are the same.

When you start out on eBay you need to work out how long you are willing to spend listing items to sell………of course the longer you spend the mre listings you can do and the more listings you make the more sales you will make and the more money you will make, that id fact.

As you start to list you will need to have a system, each person has their own system but most are based on the same  format.

Below is a system that I use – and teach others, and find most people can work around it depending on where they live and how much space they have.

1)  I work in a small room, this allows me to leave it set up for my eBay and online business most of the time. Having an area set aside for your business is important as it seems like a real business and not just a hobby.
Also another thing is, if you are able to leave things like your camera etc set up, this saves you loads of time as you do not have to set it up each day or time you use it.

If space allows have different areas or stations. 1) Pictures  2) Listing area – computer etc  3) Post and packing area.

Also try and keep everything in reach and in the same area, this again saves you time.

Try and do your pictures for the week in at one time. This again saves time and when you take each picture check it looks OK on the camera and also make a notr of the photo number and what it is for example 0001 is a childs toy, this helps when you down load the pictures on to the computer.

Now this next stage can be done on the day or done in advance – write the headings and the discriptions. It can be an idea that you write the items on a pad. And at this stage you can weigh them so you know the postage costs etc – By the way do this in the packing box etc so that you know the total cost.

By using the above simple method you know have the pictures on your computer, if they need cropping, do this in your favourite program and name them with the name of the item, this is very useful as it will save you hunting around for it on your hard drive.

Now you can get to a list, and it is almost a copy and paste system. Plus you can list where ever you and your lap top are. So if you want to you can list in your lunch-hour, or at a family party if you get board.

Yes the above is very simple but it works  Take Pictures for week in one go, and write discriptions in one go, then copy and paste.

Have Fun

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires.

PS – For more ideas, tips, hints in your online ventures pay a visit to OSI Rock Stars

Tags: Education by andyuk
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Stay With Your Dream

Here in the Uk we have a TV show called “Britain Has Got Talent” now hands in air and I do not watch much TV if any at all, and this show I have only ever seen bits of a few times over the years it has been running.

It is one of those shows where the Judges and the audience either love your act or if not you are off that stage quicker thanyou came on.

Now a few weeks back the show came from Scotland, they were looking for people for the finals.

I did not watch it…………………………………… Then all of a sudden I started to get emails, the first few ignored, then they started coming from top internet marketers with great headlines.

In the end I gave in and went to Youtube. Now any of you out there who know the power of YouTube know if your video gets a few thousand hits you are good, if it gets a bit higher then you have a viral video and if your backend is in place money is in your bank account.

Now if your video hit the Million you are a super star, but the stats I saw were mind numbing.

Well how about 50,918,044   or what about 100,000,000  yep that is 100 million, plus videos with views in the 100,000 range multiple times. And all the same video.

So why the title……………………………………………….. Well let me set the scene, we see this lady, and to be honest she seemed a nobody, like so many who want to get onto the show. Ant and Dec interview her. She is nervous.

Well as soon as she sets foot on the stage the audience and Judges are making fun of her. You see some of the teenager girls roll their eyes when she says what she wants to sing and who she wants to be like.  You can see everyone think you will be off in seconds…………………………………….

Well she gives the thumbs up…………………………………….. The music starts, you can still hear the noise of the audience wanting to get her off and the next act on, the judges are joking.

Then the first note is song, the power in her voice turns a joking and mocking crowd and a laughing set of judges into adoring fans. The song builds, the audience are on their feet, so too are the judges (well apart from simon Cowell, but his face says it all, it is a face of pleasure, of wow, of I cannot believe it).

The songs finished and our lady starts to walk off……………………………. she is used to rejection, Ant and Dec have to turn her around.  The Judges delivery their verdicts, She got three yes and not just a yes but the biggest YES ever.

And as she leaves the stage the crowd and judges are on their feet, tears rolling down their cheeks.

………………….. And what about the girl who rolled her eyes, as to say, ………………  Well she was jumping up and down and clapping and was so happy for this person who had just sung.

So what changed, it was the same building, the same judges, the same crowd, Ok 5 minutes had passed. It was the same lady on stage.

So what had changed ?  I tell you what had changed someone’s Dream had changed, Susan Boyle had that dream that she wanted to be someone. She wanted to be a singer on a stage, and she let no one around her change her from that dream or that goal.

When people laughed at her, made a joke of her, she had that dream in her mind playing over and over again.

You see when someone has dream in them and wants it so desperate like Susan Boyle, nothing no one is going to hold them back.

And that day, on a normal day in Scotland Susan Boyle’s Dream came True.

So stay with that dream, stay focused, and one day your dream will come true.

If you have not seen the video Click Here and see A Dream Coming true. Sorry cannot embed the video as YouTube have stopped this.

A thought bought to you by,

Andrew Milburn

Tags: Education by andyuk
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Blinkered To Opportunity

How many time have you looked at  opportunities around you through blinkers ? A horse owner puts blinkers on a horse so that they will not be scared or worried by objects and people at the side of them.

The thinking is, if a horse cannot see what is be side them, they are focused 100% on what is ahead and will not be distracted by objects around them.

Also it is thought if they cannot see what is around them they will not be scared by the objects.

Now I want you to put this into human thinking, how many times in life have we been blinkered, by the firm we work for, the affiliate company we work with, or the e-commerce platform that we sell on.  As a guess I would say a large amount of us. Am I right?

Some times it is very good to have this blinkered approach or tunnel vision to life and to our buisness. But …………………………………………….  At times by wearing blinkers we are focused on just one company and everything else is hidden from our thoughts and minds. As I have said this can be good some of the time.

But we live in a fast paced world that is ever changing, which is good, so we do need to let down our blinkers and keep our eyes, minds and thoughts open, to the different sales process and platforms out there, for if we just stay focused on one, we could miss out on something big.

Now I am not saying join everything and anything, you need to think will this new platform for selling help me reach my goal.

So stay focused, but remove the blinkers so that you can also see the new items around you.

Happy Selling

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Tags: Education by andyuk
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Make People Keep Your Business Card

You have thought long and hard about your buisness card, spent hours working on the wording and the design of it, had them printed. Very soon your business cards have arrived in the post, they look hot, you are so proud of them.

Very soon you start to hand out your business cards to family, friends and prospects. But if the same happens to you that happens to most people those great business cards are thrown into the bin, or hidden away in a draw or box, soon to be forgotten. This was not the plan for your business card was it.

A question, pick up your business card and turn it over………………… what do you see?  I would guess a blank space. Take a few more business cards that you have saved and turn them over, again I would guess blank spaces.

Your goal is to turn that blank space into something useful, something that will make your prospects, your customers and the people you give your cards to, hang onto them.

As you plan out your business card, think, what can I add to the back of this buisness card that will make people hold onto them and use them on a regular basis.

It could be a calender, a football teams fixtures, important holidays in your country, a useful hint or tip, a list of numbers etc. Think about your customers, your prospects and what you can add to your buisness card to make them “sticky” and not throw away.

If you can come up with an idea you will have a way to Make People Keep Your Business Card. And by making people keep your business card, guess who they will phone when they need something …………………. You.

One of the best places that I have found for printing is VistaPrint, they quite often have specials on things like free buisness cards etc.

Click on the link below and choose your country and start looking around the site.

Another resource bought to you by
Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Tags: Education by andyuk
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