Learn to buy and sell antiques and collectibles

Using eBay As A Lead Generator

I got this question from a reader about using eBay as a lead generator. I think this is important so I decided to post it here for everyone to see. It will help you make more money when selling on eBay.

Here's the email I received: Hi there!

After reading your latest message today, about using eBay as a lead generator, you reminded me of something that happened to me. (He is referring to an email sent to people who take the free eBay Seller's quiz on The Auction Revolution)

I have been selling on eBay, but not selling enough to make a steady living at it. My sales have more been generating what some would call "mad money", or "fun money", that extra money that lets you not have to squeeze every penny in order to go have a good time or celebrate a birthday.

About a couple of weeks ago, during the Thanksgiving holiday week, I found a great price on a 120 GB hard drive. So I bought it. At first I was going to use it for myself, but then realized I didn't really need it. So then I decided I wanted to sell it on eBay. But instead of listing it, I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could go back through my auctions and pull up a list of all those who bid on my previous auctions for the same make and model hard drive. I knew I could see who the winning bidders were, but I wanted to also see the people who just barely missed out so that I could offer them a chance to buy this from me before I listed it. After all, since they bid on my auction they had expressed an interest in this product.

Great idea, right?

Well, as it turns out, the last auction I had listed for this particular item turned out to be more than 30 days ago. So that plan did not work out at all, as the info I needed to contact them was no longer available.

My question to you is, do you keep a list of those people who have bid on your items but lost out? It would be great for the items you only have one or two of. And if you do keep a list, do you have an automated method of doing this so that it is not time consuming to pull the info from within eBay before the 30 day history on the auction site is gone?

And last but not least, if you do have all of this in place, is it in the course offered at the auction-revolution.com site?

Thanx for your insights on increasing my business profits!

"Ebay nickname removed" * * * Hi,

There are tools to scrape the email addresses from eBay auctions. I don't use them, and do not recommend you use them either.

I don't use programs to scrape email addresses from my eBay auctions because it violates eBay's rules to contact members to offer them items outside eBay. If enough people complain to eBay, your account will be suspended.

But there is a better way. . .

Just divert people who look at your auctions to your eBay Me page, then send them to your website where you capture their email addresses.

I wrote the eBay Buyer's Guide to use a bait in my auctions. I use a short message in my auction template offering the Buyer's Guide to anyone just for looking at my auctions, and linking to my eBay me page. This is acceptable according to current (Dec. 2005) eBay rules.

You can personalize the eBay Buyer's guide or the eBay seller's guide with your name, a link to your auctions and website, and affiliate links to my websites.

Instructions for setting up your eBay Me Page.

In my book, The Auction Revolution, I take it a bit farther. In the Auction Revolution, you will learn how to manage the email addresses and leverage them into a consistent income stream. You'll also learn how to write your own free reports, and a host of other valuable tips for selling on eBay.

Learn more about The Auction Revolution.

The page above has a quick quiz to test your eBay knowledge. You can skip the quiz (link to skip is below quiz), or take the quiz and enter your email address. You'll get the answers by email and a series of informative articles about selling on eBay. The original question was sent in by a reader who was about 5 days into the email series.

Terry

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Terry Gibbs has taught over 7,000 people how to make a good living on eBay. Terry's most recent eBay instruction manual is The Auction Revolution . The Auction Revolution is your guide to eBay and beyond. Here on Iwantcollectibles.com, you will learn about buying and selling antiques and collectibles, and about eBay.