Back-End Selling on eBay

publication date: Feb 27, 2009

eBay Confidential eZine
18th February 2009

• Even the Big Boys Get It Wrong Sometimes
• Back-End Selling on eBay

Hi, 

Even the Big Boys Get It Wrong Sometimes

News reports say a Trojan horse virus was recently found on servers belonging to Auctiva, a company that provides auction tools for eBay users.

Those of us with computers heavily protected against malware and viruses would probably have received a warning from our own virus update service, telling us not to access Auctiva's site when the problem first came to light.

Others, however, without adequate virus protection, may have happily used Auctiva's service, completely unaware of the threat not only to their computers, but potentially to their entire business online.

It seems the first many eBay users knew of the problem, was a warning issued by Google to anyone searching for Auctiva via their search engine. Soon afterwards Auctiva itself began issuing warnings and ultimately took their site offline until the problem was fixed.

Reporting the incident, Network World, (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/022309-ebay-auction-tool-web-site.html) gives two important pieces of advice:

"If Google displays a warning about a dangerous website, it still gives people the option of browsing to the site. Auctiva said it was working with Google to ensure the warning is not displayed now that it has cleaned up its servers." (Be careful here and do not copy many eBayers writing in forums who openly admit to ignoring the warning and considering their computers were adequately protected, only to later discover they were wrong!)

Network World says: "However, people who browsed Auctiva between Thursday and Saturday afternoon until 2pm Pacific time should ensure their machines are not infected. Auctiva recommends clearing the browser cache and deleting all temporary files. Also, Windows PCs should be up to date on patches, and antivirus software should be used" ( Do yourself a favour, apart from the advice in the last paragraph designed to benefit computer users already infected by the virus, go to www.google.com and key this into their search engine 'free virus software', where you can choose from dozens of alternatives to help safeguard against you falling victim to similar problems in future.)


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Back-End Selling on eBay

Back-end selling means attempting to sell more products to people who have bought from you already, and it's where a great many wealthy marketers earn the bulk of their online profits. Surprisingly, however, very few people understand how back-end selling works on eBay, and even fewer people actually put the idea to use.

Back-end selling on eBay can be simple and straightforward, also cost free, and, properly done, it can easily grow your weekly income by at least 100 per cent, sometimes much more.

Here are two ways to help you cash in on the easy profits available on eBay:

When you send emails to winning bidders include information about other products they might like to buy. Some people, sadly myself also included, think this makes them sound greedy or guilty of 'In Your Face' marketing, and you might also find customers, especially first time buyers, thinking much the same thing. That's because those people might want to inspect their first purchase before being pushed to buy more from an untested seller. Regular customers, however, rarely mind being invited to buy more from sellers they trust. Personally, I have two back-end offer email formats I use, one for new buyers, the second for regular buyers.

New buyers usually receive a simple 'thank you' email with a live link after my signature to other products available in my eBay shop, saying something like this:

That sort of message, placed after a seller signs off the main message of the email, looks like a standard signature file which goes automatically into all outgoing messages. Recipients rarely believe that message and link is purely for them, even though in my case every such link is hand-picked for individual buyers. So I might email thanking someone who has just purchased a print of somewhere in Yorkshire and include the link for a book specifically relating to their collecting area, sometimes that book will be selling in my own eBay store, sometimes it will be offered by another company for which I am an affiliate. Whatever the link says, because it goes after my signature, it looks like a basic and very non-threatening signature file. And it works.

Repeat and regular buyers might receive a much more personal email with a product recommendation directed at the individual and may also include an invitation to buy right away. It might look something like this:

"Thank you for buying (product concerned) which will be with you in the next few days. I thought you'd also like to know about another (product concerned) item you might be interested in. It's a (product concerned), measuring (if appropriate) and it is (number of years) old. It previously belonged to a ............ Here's the link you need to take a closer look: www.mysite/productiwantyoutobuy.html" and so it goes until I'm happy I've convinced my buyer to at least look at something else I'd like him or her to buy. It works very well and, if you choose products carefully, you'll find many regular customers buying your recommended product right away especially where a discount is offered on delivery for two items posted together.

Put a compliments slip inside all outgoing packages telling recipients you hope they like their product, and asking them to contact you if they need help or advice, as well as indicating where they can buy other products from you on eBay or via your own site or an affiliate company site. eBay provides flyers for this purpose which you customise and send to prospective buyers. eBay Shop owners will find the template inside their eBay account, under 'All Selling > Marketing Tools'.

Happy eBaying!

Avril