As a merchant or business owner ask yourself the following questions. How would you feel about an $80 sale from a random customer? You’ll feel fairly well, right? Well, how about $10 in sales revenue a week for the next eight weeks from one familiar customer?
I hope that you chose the latter of the two. It is with this frame of mind you should strongly consider the content of this article. Making money on eBay can be a perplexing thing (only if you let it). But when you put into play a residual concept your earnings reach a new level.
Many eBay sellers aim for that first time sale. There is no crime in that, however, it’s all those subsequent sales that bring true success. Your earning potential gets even more powerful when it’s one person bringing in those repeat sales. So how do you set yourself for that? By simply following up with your customers.
Why Follow Up on eBay Customers?
The ability to manage your customer’s information, and follow up with them is actually vital in many industries. Once your customer’s contact information is captured it opens the door for many benefits. Suddenly you will be able inform them of promotions on the horizon. You can send them coupons and advise of company related changes. You can even educate your customers on items that you stock or niche related do-it-yourself projects. When making money on eBay a proper follow up could make or break your bottom line.
What is the best way to follow up?
Early on in your eBay selling ventures time isn’t much of an issue. As your business grows, time will be of the essence. There is photography to be concerned with; listing, customer service, and maybe even corresponding with wholesalers. When business gets this good an auto responder does marvels for your sanity.
An Autoresponder system keeps track of your customers and allows you to communicate with them all with the touch of a button. There are many systems on the market but Aweber is arguably the leading provider. Aweber also happens to have an application that you can sync to your eBay account. By linking together you will be able to build huge contact lists.
Each time you sell an item Aweber will automatically email your customer giving them the option to subscribe to your newsletter. Once your customer does they essentially grant you the permission to contact them.
With the Aweber auto responder you can even segment your subscribers into groups. When making money on eBay this feature is especially beneficial because no two of your customers will be the same. Consider this hypothetical scenario:
Say your niche is in the toy market and you just sold a Transformers action figure. In Aweber you can create a segment and name it ‘Transformers Fans.’ Two weeks later you decide to create a newsletter informing others of a recall on the toy.
Well, you wouldn’t necessarily send that letter out to all of your customers. You could choose to send it only to your segment created for fans of the Transformers. The more targeted your correspondence is the better. Your subsequent newsletters to that segment could even be geared to upsell other items related to the Transformers.
More Than Meets the Eye.
Sure you can settle for that one time sale, but your goal is to create a consistent cash flow – that way you can actually afford to run your business. Cash flow is king! Your eBay account does not come with Aweber but it is a great tool to have.
You can test drive the system for 30 days here. Don’t let anyone tell you that making money on eBay is complicated. With the right tools and training one can easily turn it into a reliable supplemental income.
