SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
Start
An eBay Business
Think
Like an eBay PowerSeller
by Jeff Cohen
So
what’s a PowerSeller? PowerSellers are the people on eBay
who’ve made it, recognizable by the little
‘PowerSeller’ badge next to their name. You’ve probably seen
these people around – and to succeed on eBay, you want to think
the way they do.
How to People Get the Right to Call Themselves PowerSellers?
eBay gets to decide who can be a PowerSeller and who can’t,
and they have strict requirements. To get in at the minimum
PowerSeller level, you must have a feedback rating of at least
100 (minimum 98% positive) and sell at least $1,000 worth of
items every month for three months in a row. There are different
levels of PowerSeller membership as you sell items of greater
value: $1,000 total is bronze, $3,000 is silver, $10,000 is
gold, $25,000 is platinum and $125,000 is titanium.
If PowerSellers ever fail to meet the required amount of sales,
or their feedback falls below 98% positive, then they lose
their PowerSeller status. In short, the only people who get
to be PowerSellers on eBay are the people who have been successful
for a good while, and are on track to stay that way.
The
Shop and the Marketplace
This is the most important part of understanding how PowerSellers
think. They don’t see what they’re doing as being some random
bazaar, or a hobby – instead, they see themselves as a business.
Put it like this. If you run a stall in a marketplace, the
chances are that you have a general area of business, but you
mostly just sell whatever you can get your hands on that week.
If your dodgy buddy got his hands of a job lot of something
at a discount, then that’s what you’ll be selling. This might
be fun – and when you have a good week, you’ll have a really
good week – but it’s no way to run a real business in the long-term.
PowerSellers
think far more like shops. They sell the same
things again and again, every week – regular stock for regular
customers. They do ‘boring’ business things like keep inventories
and budgets. They know what they’re going to be selling, how
much they buy it for and how much they expect to sell for.
Just like a real shop, there can be hard times sometimes, but
their income is stable and their business can grow slowly.
The best advice I can give you on thinking like a PowerSeller
is this: don’t take long-term risks for short-term
gain. Look
after your reputation, manage your selling properly, provide
good customer service and the rewards will come to you in due
course. And you’ll get a little badge next to your name that
makes people trust you more!
One possibility that you might have realized so far is what
eBay can do for any other businesses you might have. Remember,
millions of people visit eBay every day – why keep everything
separate when you’re starting to tap into that kind of power?
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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