Forget your preconceptions that online auction behemoth eBay is a place to sell quirky Pez dispensers and broken printers, I did a survey of the market potential of the site for Internet Marketers and you’d be pretty pleasantly surprised by my findings.
Rather than recycle subjective opinions from blogs and forums, I went to Nasdaq.com and pulled eBay’s financial stats.
San Jose-based eBay has certainly come a long way from its beginnings as a sole proprietorship in 1995.
In case you think it’s only holds sway as the dominant player in the auction space, think again. The addition of electronic payment provider PayPal and Internet telephony VOIP (voice over internet protocol) provider Skype, means that it is a force to be reckoned with in the e-payment and communications arena too.
The financials show that the 30% year-on-year growth to sales of $5.96 billion in sales last years and a $1.125 billion net profit, mean that it’s position as a digital exchange for products and services is pretty much cemented.
Especially when you look back and see two major initiatives in 2004:
- The $153 million purchase of Germany’s Mobile.de, the biggest auto classifieds Web site, which brought eBayers a choice of 800,000 used vehicles
- New York States choice to auction surplus items on eBay, rather than conduct its own auctions.
These and more recent intiatives have helped build up eBay’s standing.
In a recent IDC (International Data Corp) report “The State of the Consumer Digital Marketplace (Mar 2007)”, the “most important Internet companies” were analyzed, and the listing included:
- Amazon.com Inc
- eBay Inc
- Google Inc
- Time Warner Inc.’s AOL
- Yahoo! Inc
- Microsoft Inc.’s Online Services Business (OSB), the former MSN
- News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media (MySpace)
What turned the tide for me was hearing from eBay specialist Adam Ginsburg during Matt Bacak’s Marketing Madness in Atlanta.
Adam’s sold $20 million worth of pianos on eBay, and has gone on to buy and sell houses and properties on eBay.
Information marketers stand to gain leverage from listing and marketing their products on eBay, simply because it’ll continue to be an undeniable presence on the digital landscape. It could very well become the next search engine, offering goods and information for sale.
While there are a number of Internet Marketers on eBay at the moment, it hasn’t accumilated the awareness and mass of a Stompernet or CMS Infusion product launch yet.
The marketing techniques used on eBay seem fairly basic.
This only means that visionary Internet Marketers, the eBay playing field is largely untapped and could prove to be very lucrative.
Is it really as good as it seems?
I was looking for materials to build a business and to run a success auction.
A search for eBay training products shows more products dealing with dropshipping or “How I became an eBay powerseller in XYZ days” (powerseller being the designation for a high volume seller).
I wasn’t able to find a specific product to recommend, but Amazon has a good selection of eBay resources
Alternatively, I found this offer to get an eBay Auction Success Kit free (you have to pay a nominal postage and handling fee). [Note: limited to US residents only]
Hey Andrew!
So many people MISS THIS ONE!
You are so right. I’ve been studying eBay (Adam Ginsberg being one of my sources, Jan’07) and the deals to be had are unparrelled.
For $9.99 you get a 30 day Classified Ad you can show to the whole world. Are you ready yet? It’s pretty easy.
Have you read Jim Cockrum’s ebook yet? I’ll find the link and add it this week.
pam
Hi Andrew. There’s a service called terapeak that provides stats and sell-thru rates of the different items sold at eBay.
Hi Pam,
I’ve heard from eBay veterans that the eBay classifieds don’t work well.
I guess if you’ve stumbled on a winning formula, you should capitalize on it to the hilt.
I haven’t read many eBay books yet, it’s certainly on my “to do” list.
Victor,
Thanks for the heads-up.
Is there a restriction to ebay.com.au auctions?
I would like to toggle it to ebay.com.
Any suggestions?
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