Secrets of the eBay

CHAPTER 6: Reach the Widest Possible Audience 119
same to write a 10-word description as it does to write 100 words, many of
which are potential search keywords.
“Our brokers immediately get the recognition of being a PowerSeller
because they are selling with us,” says Bratt. “You create a set of aggregate
sales. One of our sellers sells makeup, and another one sells women’s shoes.
I’ve seen that, when we add a new store to our brokerage, everyone’s sales
increase dramatically. I don’t immediately see a link between women’s
makeup and DVDs, but my DVDs sell faster when the women’s makeup
store is online and selling faster.”
Ron Bratt points out that eBay’s fees make it more cost-effective to sell
through an eBay Store than through conventional auctions. He sells primarily
through the Auction Safari store at fixed price, and minimizes the amount of merchandise
he actually lists through auctions. Instead, he uses auction listings to drive visitors to his
store. “Although auctions are important, the fees force us to minimize our exposure on
eBay. For higher-end merchandise—say, over $25 starting bid—you end up paying a $1.20
insertion fee plus a gallery fee. In a store, the fees are only a few cents each. Suppose I get
100 Joseph Abboud shirts, and I have five different colors and five different sizes, resulting
in 25 different SKUs. I would put one of each SKU out there on eBay at auction, and say in
the description, ‘Many more colors and sizes can be found in our store.’”
The Keyword’s the Thing
“It’s not like Field of Dreams, you build it and they will come,” Ron Bratt
says of eBay. “Our number one recommendation to our brokers is that
they buy eBay keywords. Right now, eBay’s keywords cost much less than
Google’s. You can get a banner right on top of the eBay search results page
when someone enters the keywords you’ve purchased.”
eBay Keywords (shown in the following illustration) is a targeted
advertising program that is available to anyone who currently has items to
sell on eBay (either at auction or an eBay Store) and has a feedback rating
higher than 20. Suppose you sell Coach handbags. You could place a bid
of, say, 50 cents on the words “Coach handbag.” If yours is the high bid
for these keywords, you win; your ad is displayed at the top of a page of
eBay search results when someone searches for those two words—and
you are charged 50 cents if someone clicks on your ad and visits your
store or auction listing. It’s a way of getting your merchandise before the
eyes of potential shoppers who have—by entering the keywords—already
expressed an interest in the item.