Hacks 1917 Industrial.. Strength Tips and Tools [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 36 The Strategy of Listing Upgrades

Perform a simple cost/benefit analysis to
determine which listing options to use.

An
extra-cost listing upgrade pays for itself if it increases the
auction's closing price by at least the cost of the
upgrade. But no upgrade is a guarantee, and it can be difficult to
predict which ones will be effective without first doing a little
research.

For example, the Gallery option, which includes a tiny
photo of your item in search results (shown in Figure 4-2), costs 25 cents. Presumably, a Gallery photo
increases traffic to an auction, which can lead to more bids and a
higher closing price. But it also takes time to prepare a proper
Gallery
image
(see [Hack #64]), and while 25 cents
doesn't sound like much, listing fees can add up
fast. So, you may want to be selective with the Gallery and other
listing upgrades you use.

Figure 4-2. The Gallery option is sometimes worth the cost and trouble if it ultimately raises the closing price

Table 4-1 lists the available listing upgrades,
their costs, and recommended minimum prices for which they should be
used. (Note that some of the fees are different for specialty items,
such as autos and real estate.)

^[1] Listing in two categories affects only
category listings, not search results.

Whether or not any particular upgrade is appropriate for your item
depends on several factors, as well as a certain degree of luck. With
a little research (see the next section), you'll be
able to make more informed decisions that will have greater impact on
the success of your auction. But if you don't want
to take the time, you can use the "Minimum
price" column in Table 4-1 as a
quick-and-dirty guideline. For instance, if you expect your item to
sell for about $40, there's little point in paying
$20 to have it Featured. By the same token, if
you're selling a $1500 item, then that extra $20
doesn't sound like so much, as it might end up
getting you an extra $100 for your item.

From time to time, eBay offers specials on listing upgrades, such as "Free Bold Day" or "Gallery for a Penny." Such deals are typically advertised in search results listings and on the Announcements board, so keep your eyes open.

4.5.1 Statistics and Research

From time to time, eBay publishes statistics regarding the
effectiveness of the more popular listing upgrades. For example, in
February 2003, eBay estimated that the Gallery option, on average,
increased bids by 13% and the final price by 11%. Likewise, the Bold
option reportedly increased both the number of bids and the final
price by 39%.

What these statistics don't say
is that there were likely other factors that helped increase the
closing prices of these auctions. For example, sellers who took the
time to add the Bold or Gallery options to their auctions were
probably also diligent enough to write proper titles and descriptions
and take good photos. This doesn't necessarily mean
that listing upgrades won't help you get more money
for your items, but merely that any claims that a listing upgrade
will increase the price of your auction should be taken with a grain
of salt.

Since your item will likely be competing for bidders with other
auctions, the upgrades you choose should depend largely on those used
and not used by your competition. Start by performing
a quick search for your item, as well as browsing the category in
which your item will be placed, and see what other sellers are doing
to promote their items (see Figure 4-3).

Figure 4-3. If half of your competition has paid extra to be Featured in search results, your item may be buried if you don't, and as a result, your auction will receive fewer bids

If you're selling a rare collectible or a
one-of-a-kind item, you might find few sellers in your category using
the Bold or Gallery upgrades. But for more common items, such as
computers, just about every auction title will be Bold, and about a
third will be Featured in Search or Featured in Category.

Also helpful is the Completed Items search, described in [Hack #33], to see which upgrades were used in the most successful completed auctions.

But that's all the help eBay will give you. If you
want a little more analysis and summary, try the
Andale Research tool (www.andale.com), shown in Figure 4-4; it's a pay service via a
monthly fee, but you can get a handful of trial uses for free.

Figure 4-4. The Andale Research tool provides a targeted summary of the success rate of completed items matching your search query

Instead of basing its statistics on averages across all of eBay, the
Andale Research tool gathers up-to-date results matching your
specific search query using eBay's Completed Items
search. It's nothing earth-shattering, but
statistics such as the Success Rate by eBay Feature the
percentage of successful sales by listing upgrade can be
somewhat enlightening.

However, the most reliable research you can do is on your own
auctions. See [Hack #38] for details.

4.5.2 Upgrade Analysis

Some listing upgrades are more effective than others, but the most
expensive options don't always provide the biggest
gains. As a rule, the most effective listing upgrades are those that
affect your auction's visibility in search results,
making them stand out from the rest. Here's a brief
analysis of the extra-cost listing upgrades eBay has to offer:

The Buy-It-Now feature allows you and a bidder
to complete the transaction early at a price you set (see [Hack #26]). But it can also be a very
effective promotion tool, with the Buy-It-Now icon and price
appearing in search results just below the opening price. Set the
Buy-It-Now a little under the
item's market value, and you'll
likely make a sale to a shrewd buyer within a few hours of listing.
Or set the Buy-It-Now a little over the
item's market value, and you might get a bite from a
hungry bidder in a hurry. If nothing else, a carefully chosen
Buy-It-Now price might subconsciously suggest a price to early
visitors, even if they don't end up using it. At
only 5 cents, it's not much of a gamble.

eBay charges the same listing fee for 3-day, 5-day, and 7-day
auctions, but a 10-day listing will cost you an extra dime. The
theory is that the longer the auction is active, the more bidders
will see it, and the more bids you'll get. In most
cases, the extra exposure is easily worth the extra 10 cents. But its
effectiveness is somewhat offset by the implied
"urgency" of a short 3- or 5-day
auction, which might encourage bidders to bid earlier and
higher.

See [Hack #64].

It costs twice the normal listing price to include your item in two
categories, so the risk increases with the starting bid. Since it has
no effect on search results, this upgrade won't
necessarily double your exposure as eBay claims, but it will usually
help. Use this upgrade only if there are two equally appropriate
categories for your item; otherwise, it's typically
unnecessary.

The Bold
option simply displays your auction title in a bold font in search
results and category listings. To see how effective this upgrade is,
try any search on eBay and see how the bolded auctions stand out.
Bold makes auctions harder to miss when there's a
lot of competition. However, if most of your competition is already
using Bold, you might need something more aggressive, such as
Featured Plus.

The start time is an important factor in the amount of exposure your
auction gets, since it affects when it shows up in Newly Listed and
Ending First search results. By default, a listing starts as soon as
you complete the Sell Your Item form, but if you're
up writing auction descriptions at 3:00 A.M., you may wish to pay an
extra 10 cents to schedule your auctions to start at a more
reasonable time. But you can save your dime by using a listing tool
to prepare your auctions ahead of time; see [Hack #73].

If eBay is hosting your photos, the first photo is free; any
additional photos cost 15 cents apiece. But you can include as many
photos as you like at no cost if you host them yourself; see [Hack #59] for details.

If you're willing to gift-wrap your item, include a
gift card, use express shipping, or ship to a recipient other than
the buyer, you can pay an extra 25 cents to advertise these services.
Don't expect the little gift icon to get you any
extra bids, though, except perhaps during the holidays. If you want
to save money, you can simply say you'll gift-wrap
your item in the auction description.

See [Hack #35].

For an extra 10 cents, you can use one of eBay's
predesigned templates for your auction. But with a little knowledge
of HTML and some imagination, you can create a unique look for your
auctions without paying any extra fees, as described in [Hack #42].

The Highlight feature changes the background
color behind your auction title in search results and category
listings. In most cases, though, it's barely
noticeable, and hardly worth the $5 fee. But if most of your
competition is already using the Bold and Featured upgrades, then
Highlight might give you enough of an edge to pay for itself.

"Featured" is the only upgrade that
actually affects your ranking in search results
(see Figure 4-3). If your item normally appears on
a given page in search results or a category listing, then it will
also appear in the Featured section at the top of the page. There are
five types of Featured upgrades:

Affects category listings only. At only $5 more, Featured Plus (next)
is a much better choice.

Affects search results and category listings; probably the best
choice for most sellers.

Affects searches in eBay Stores only (see [Hack #72]); despite the name, this upgrade
has no effect on standard searches.

Affects the General Gallery only (go to Site Map Gallery),
and then only periodically. Use this only if you're
desperate.

For about $100, your auction might appear in the
small Featured Items box on the eBay home page (www.ebay.com). But there is no guarantee that
your item will ever actually appear in this list; and even if it does
appear, the odds that the person who sees it will actually be
interested enough in your item to bid is so astronomical that this
option is a gamble at best. It might be worth the cost if
you're selling real estate or promoting a pyramid
scheme; otherwise, it's a complete and utter waste
of money.