A huge mistake I see over and over is where sellers sell like they buy. In other words, they offer a product in a way that would appeal to themselves if they were the prospective buyer. BIG mistake. You are not your customer. You see, most sellers forget that everyone is different. There are many different ways that people go through the buying process.

Some people like to browse and compare, others enjoy the thrill of the auction process, and still others with little time or patience like to buy items instantly. Can you identify yourself in any of these examples?

eBay presents us with a unique opportunity to give people what they want. Think about that. There are websites that offer just auctions, there are websites that offer quick and easy ecommerce transactions, and there are sites that allow you to browse and compare prices. eBay has it all. That's a very important distinction to be aware of, because it gives us a competitive advantage.

The irony is that most people are completely oblivious to everything we've stated so far ? they don't realize that there are numerous buying styles and habits across the population, and they also don't realize that eBay allows us to offer our wares to appeal to these different groups.

The term ?insider secret' is overused these days, but I really believe it to be true in this case. So listen up, you can make a LOT more sales by applying this information. Don't read it, nod your head, and promptly forget about it! It's simple to apply, you just need to do it.

Right, let's get down to the nitty gritty. For the purposes of this article, we're going to apply the principles to the H3 lead generation system for eBay. In other words, this applies to selling inexpensive reports or other information based products on eBay. If you're currently selling something else, you'll still see how the same principles can be applied.

?Auctions are the bread and butter core business of eBay.?

Firstly, you should always have a 7 day auction listing active at all times. Why? Auctions are the bread and butter core business of eBay. It's what eBay was founded on, and it's always been by far the most popular type of listing, by a long shot. That hasn't changed in over 10 years, and I doubt it will ever change.

There are lots of reasons why this is the case. The key reason however, is that fundamentally, auctions are exciting. Adrenaline is involved, and the final hours and minutes are really exciting.

My wife, Luci, will usually ?play the auction game' even when there's an option to buy the item immediately. I've asked her to explain why on numerous occasions, and she can't fully explain it, but I suspect it comes down to the enjoyment of the auction process ? even if she subsequently doesn't end up winning an item. Similarly, she'll never use a sniping tool to guarantee winning an item. She views that as cheating. Seems crazy to me, but it illustrates how different buyers can be.

So the point is, even if you don't much care for the auction format yourself, that's irrelevant. It's an extremely popular format across the whole of eBay, which is why you must offer your items in that format.

The next type of listing format you must have active is the 7 day fixed price. Now, I should probably make a clarification here, because I often see sellers getting confused between a buy it now, and a fixed price listing. They are not the same thing. ?Buy it Now' is not a listing type, it's an add-on option for auction listings. Here's how it works. Let's say you create an auction listing starting at 0.99, with a buy it now option of 9.99. When the first person places a bid on that item, the ?buy it now' option immediately disappears, and it won't be seen for the remainder of the auction duration. So you can see that it has limited value.

The ?fixed price' listing on the other hand is, as the name suggests, one price for the duration of the listing. This satisfies anyone that wants to purchase the item immediately.

The third type of listing that we must have active is the classified ad format. The reason for this one is actually selfish. The classified ad format stays live for at least 30 days, and up to 90 days, depending on what we choose. The major benefit with that length of time is that the search engines pick up on keywords and rank the listing within search results, which is obviously extremely valuable. The other main reason for using the ad format is because we can include a direct link to our website. Since there is nothing to buy within eBay with this format, we HAVE to link to where the item can be purchased, and it's ideal to have people go directly to our website.

Of course, these 3 listing types are not the be all and end all. Other formats can and should be used. However, these 3 cover the essentials, so always keep that in mind.