The Hottest Ebay Selling Tip

My best Ebay selling tip by far is... do mystery auctions!  These are insanely popular and they really pull in the dough.  This works best if you have good feedback to flaunt. If you don't have good feedback, start buying as many cheap ebooks/digital products as you can.  Don't overdo it on the $0.01 items, throw in a few $0.10 & $0.15 items too so that Ebay stays off your back.

Once you get that good feedback, what you're going to be doing is basically selling a mystery surprise to hopeful bidders.  This Ebay selling secret has made me over $20,000 when I was still selling there.

These are really popular because it gives the buyer a sense of excitement, anticipation and suspense.  The main motivation for the seller is cash. If you list just 2 high-end mystery boxes a week and make $150 profit each, you can earn an extra $1,200 a month before fees.

Do a search on Ebay’s completed auctions by clicking on “advanced search” in the upper right hand corner, then typing in what you’re looking for (like mystery auction), then checking off the “completed listings” box.  You’ll see a ton of listings and notice that many of them ended with a successful bidder.

Now, you DO NOT want to be one of those sellers who sell virtual mystery envelopes for cheap and then delivers a “cash prize” or electronically delivered items.  Buyers see this as a big scam and you will definitely get negative feedbacks this way. 

What these sellers do is list a virtual envelope for about a dollar, then give a portion of the payment back to each bidder, or email them some ebooks.  Most customers are okay with this, since it was just a dollar, but many are not pleased and it shows in their feedback.

Another important Ebay selling tip: feedback is the lifeblood of your Ebay business so you want to stay far away from doing anything that could corrupt it.  Do business honestly but keep it exciting.

The type of mystery auctions goods you will be selling are brand new, physical goods with a high perceived value.  I'm talking camcorders, cell phones, jewelry, game consoles and designer purses. I've even heard of cars being sold.  People also love to receive cash in their mystery boxes. 

Always, include the the following wording in your auction: Note to eBay: This is not a raffle, lottery, giveaway or any sort of gambling.  You are bidding on a box, anything inside this box it a gift from me to you!

Where are you going to get this stuff?  Here are some options.

1.    If you don’t want to be bothered with inventory, use a drop shipper.  Make sure you find one that is reliable and figure out beforehand how you will deal with the occasional backorder.  You can search for drop shippers in Google, but it's much safer to sign up with World Wide Brands.  This company finds only legitimate wholesale drop shippers selling tons of different stuff.  This list isn't as cheap as the junk you find on Ebay, but it's worth it.  When you have some extra money, this list is worth the investment. 

2.    Try these sources.  At the end I list quite a few companies that I have personally worked with and know to be very reliable.  You can use these sources as long as you sign up for a tax number with your state office.