The eBay Billions

[ezimoni]

To eBay or Not to Ebay
© Taylor P. Tarawhiti 2003 all rights reserved

Author of 'eBay Billion Dollar Goldmine'


FACT:
eBay’s Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS) 2003 - GMS, the total value of items sold, was a record $24 billion, representing a 60% year-over-year increase from the $15 billion reported in the full year 2002

FACT:
Over 79 million times a day, eBay users find products and brands of their choice.

FACT:
In the final quarter of 2003, reported and increase of 41.2 million active users, up 3.8 million from the previous quarter.


(Exerts from January 21, 2004 - eBayâ„¢ Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2003 Financial Results.)



When I read the 2003 Financial Results, the first thing I thought of is ‘what a lot of traffic’.

Think about it 79 million times a day people are looking at the eBay site for products or services.

And if you think anything like me … the next thought would be, ‘can I drive some of that traffic to my site’

The answer is YES!

This scenario is the ‘norm� in an auction.

• Seller lists item
• people visit auction
• some make bids
• highest bidder wins (one winner)
• product sold and delivered

Question: What happens to all the people who visited the auction and didn’t bid or bid and didn’t win?

Answer: Lost Revenue, Lost Opportunity

It doesn’t matter what kind of service or product you are selling or decide to sell. There are TECHNIQUES that can help you DEVELOP constant flow of traffic, SALES and GENERATE LEADS.

If you use eBay solely as an auction site, then you will make a few dollars, a couple of thousand if you are bulk selling.

Power eBay Sellers know that they real money comes when you drive people from your auction sale to where ever else you need to send them. This of course should firstly be to your own website, but you can send them to affiliate sites just as easy.

eBay more that a giant flea market. You see, eBay auctions attract millions of TARGETED customers. You don’t have to go in search of subscribers – they will come to you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Protege of Robert G. Allen (author of No Money Down, Multiple Steams of Income and money more) and Mark Victor Hansen (Co-founder of Chicken Soup for the Soul)[/b]

[Emancipator]

great read... had no idea just how much money was involved at ebay.

[SVB]

It wold be interesting to see what ebay product categories get the most hits. i woud guess computers and mudics cd's, so selling an item there with a link to your site in it would generate some traffic.

[ezimoni]

Yes, it is easy to drive traffic from your auction to your website when you know how (and without breaking any eBay rules).

Most eBayers don't use this concept, so lost opportunities are happening every day.

And it really doesn't matter what you sell because it's the backend sale that is more profitable than the actual auction.

If you go to eBay, click on the 'site map' under the 'categories' section you will see 'Category Overview' once there it will give your the total number of auctions in that particular category.

As rule of thumb in terms of auctions - consumables, info products, collectables are the fast sellers.

[Calisonder]

i really enjoyed that, you had some good ideas

[Emancipator]

it was a great post no question.