eBay wants you to be successful.
The reason for this is simple - the more money their sellers
make, the better they do. In order to help their sellers
succeed they have created a number of promotional tools designed
to increase your success.
These tools add value to your
listings, resulting in higher selling prices for your goods. In
exchange for the added value, eBay takes a small fee. Thus both
eBay and the seller benefit from the use of these tools.
eBay wants to use their tools
as often as possible, and has priced them accordingly.
Typically, all features are worth more than they cost when used
appropriately. For example, you can make your listing stand out
by added highlighting or making it bold. Both options are
available for only a few cents per auction and can increase your
final selling price by as much as 25%.
Other promotional tools
available include product finder, gallery, border, gift services
listings, subtitles, keywords, co-op advertising, and optimized
listings. Additionally, listings can be featured, featured
plus, featured on the home page, and featured in the gallery.
Featured listings are more expensive then other promotional
options, but also attract far more traffic than any other
option. Obviously, your product has to be expensive enough to
make the added cost worthwhile.
Not all promotional tools
result in increased fees though. In fact, most are free. The
use of both free and paid tools can greatly increase your chance
for success, so be sure to check out all your options when
creating a new listing. Pricing and features of the different
promotional tools change frequently, often going "on sale" for
brief periods of time.
Whether you are serious about
making money from your eBay business or just have one big ticket
item to sell, you will definitely want to take advantage of the
promotional tools offered by eBay. Paid tools like bolding and
"featured" auctions are sure to boost your traffic, and thus
your final selling price. Free tools generally offer smaller
boosts in traffic, but are still worthwhile pursuing.
