Fast forward to today, I have managed to get a 90 percent closing rate on my auctions. That means out of 10 items I auctioned, 9 will get bids. It took me a long time to realize the mistakes I made and gradually over the years, I learned and tested which auctions will get bids and which doesn't.



There are too many reasons why auctions don't get bids. I won't be able to cover them all at once. But I will list the top 3 big reasons.

1. Not all categories are created the same.

Do you know some categories have high closing rates as much as 90 percent while others can have as low as 30 percent? This means some auctions in certain categories have a 90 percent chance of getting a bid while other categories may only have a 30 percent chance.

How do I know this? Through research. The single biggest mistake most newbie sellers on ebay make is not doing research. Why is research important? Because only then can you determine what's selling hot and in demand and what's not. You can determine how much an item which you may be thinking of selling is being sold. You can determine when and what period of the year a particular item is being sold like hot cakes.

The best part is this research information is right on ebay. Ebay Pulse is a good place to start however it does not provide enough information. If you are treating ebay as a full-time business, I recommend using ebay marketplace research where you can get more in-depth statistics and analysis. They have 3 different plans, Fast Pass, Basic and Pro with each higher plan more expensive.

2. Be Specific

There are usually thousands of auctions in any given categories. Some of the general categories can have tens of thousands of auctions running. Most visitors do not browse more than 2 pages of auctions when buying. Most visitors use the ebay search tool to find what they are interested. Therefore, it is important your auction title needs to be as specific as possible. Why?

Let me give you an example. Suppose I'm looking to buy a DVD player. Let's say I am interested in Sony DVD player model SG-1038. What I would do and most buyers do would be to type in "sony dvd player SG-1038" in the ebay search tool. Therefore, if your auction title has any of the words I entered, your auction will be shown.

Now the important point is this. When visitors type a specific model, less auctions are shown from the search results and those auctions have a greater chance of being checked out by the visitor. Reason being it is exactly what the visitor is looking for. Your auction description also has to provide as much specific information as possible.

3. Pricing

One rule to remember, never start your opening bid at $50 or more. The reason is what I termed as "burnoff". It means your auctions scars off potential buyers even before they click on that link to check out the description. If you can't sell below a certain price, set a reserve price instead.

Last piece of advise, do not charge too much for shipping. Customers are not dumb. Plus ebay has a shipping calculator which let buyers calculate the estimated cost. If you charge too much for shipping, you are shooting yourself in the foot.