2/10/09 eBay Powersellers Secrets Newsletter 

“In this week’s newsletter Amanda tells you about her ‘people-watching’ episode at the train station.”   

Hello!

I decided to treat myself to a day out in London yesterday, a hugely different environment to my usual dog walking, mud splattered country way of life! 

But whilst I adore living in the countryside and all that fresh air, I also love the buzz of the city – the comings and goings, the constant hum of city living and all that. And I love ‘people-watching’ – my husband gets so frustrated with me for doing this because he’ll be trying to have a conversation with me and I’m just nodding, not really listening because I’m looking at other people around me. 

So, I was in my element yesterday whilst waiting for my train to arrive, as I relaxed on the squashy leather sofa in an up-market coffee shop located on the balcony above the train station. What a brilliant vantage point to take in my surroundings and do a spot of one of my favourite pastimes! 

From my birds eye view above the concourse I happily sipped my latte and watched the world go by, and as I was casting my eyes around I noticed a couple of stalls just down below me – one was a flower stall and the other selling handbags. 

The flower stall was doing a roaring trade and the two ladies who were running it were obviously having a great old time, running round, helping customers to pick out arrangements and tying them up with ribbons – that’s the flowers, not the customers!  

There was a kind of energy exuding from the stall – the way that all the flowers were lined up in attractive displays so you could easily see what was on offer, the smells, the colourfulness of the different varieties of flowers and the smiles on the faces of the workers.  

A little way to the right and the handbag stall was quite a contrast - looking kind of forlorn really. Manned by one lady on her own, she sat, perched on a high stool at one end, with what can only be described as a blank, disinterested look on her face.  

There were plenty of people around at this time of day and some were stopping to look at the handbag lady’s stuff – they would pick up a bag, feel it, open it up to see how roomy it was … and then they would put it back (in the wrong place), pick up another and repeat the process.  

All the time this was going on, the owner of the stall was still sat perched on her stool with the same blank, disinterested look. She didn’t even bother to get up and put the discarded bags back in their rightful position after people had had a good old rummage around! 

I was so tempted to just leap over the balcony, give her a good shake and shout ‘Look! You have customers – go and talk to them, you are losing sales!’ (I had heels on though so it made it impossible to do the leap).  

It was so frustrating for me, sat up there watching her make absolutely no effort to even acknowledge these people, let alone actually get off her stool and help them choose what they wanted. 

Don’t worry; I am getting to the point!  

So, what I concluded from my people watching episode is that your own enthusiasm and moods rub off on others. What I mean is that if you are enthusiastic about something brilliant that you are talking about or showing to someone else or describing to someone, your enthusiasm and energy sort of flows into the other person. They get caught up and influenced by your own enthusiasm, making them see the benefits too. 

The handbag lady could easily have made three or four sales in the 20 minutes or so that I was watching her, it wasn’t like she didn’t have any one interested in her bags and they were reasonably priced, but she didn’t sell any because she paid no attention to what was happening around her, she didn’t interact with her potential buyers, probably couldn’t care less if she made a sale or not and she looked utterly miserable. 

The flower ladies on the other hand, were so enthusiastic about their work that people were literally drawn towards their stall to take a look at their bouquets and arrangements. These ladies were energized, attentive, interested and helpful and were convincing people to purchase simply by approaching them and acknowledging their presence! 

And so, the point of my people watching observations is to reiterate to you that nothing sells itself.

The flower ladies were literally ‘selling’ their goods through their enthusiasm.

The handbag lady was actually putting people off through her air of disinterest.

It’s exactly the same with your eBay listings and your eBay shop. The enthusiasm, excitement and knowledge that you have for your product will come across in your descriptions whether you are aware of this or not.

A one paragraph mish-mash of a description followed by the price is the equivalent to the handbag lady. 

A descriptive well laid out listing, enthusing about the benefits of your product, accompanied with photographs is the equivalent to the flower ladies. 

I know that it’s a different situation when you are selling online, compared to face to face selling but you must always find ways to get across in your descriptions that your product is amazing. It’s fabulous. You cannot live without it and nor should anyone else. Be enthusiastic. Do you get the idea? 

Use descriptive words, short, punchy phrases and big-up the features and benefits, all the while telling your reader what your product can do for them. Don’t just describe it in a bland way. 

Any product, however boring you think it might be can be transformed into the greatest thing on earth by using a few choice words and phrases. 

The same is true for your eBay shop – if you haven’t already got one, get a vibrant logo to display as the header of your shop because this is attention to detail that will show people that you care about your eBay business and the way it is presented – it’s very easy to set-up – just design one using any online logo maker such as www.logocreator.com  and then upload it from your computer.  

The bottom line is you must always make sure you are telling your potential buyers absolutely everything they need to know, in a friendly but professional, enthusiastic, well thought out and well laid out manner, just by viewing your listings.  

If you don’t enthuse about your products, how will anyone know that they are worth buying? Well, they won’t and that can make all the difference between a successful eBay listing and an overlooked one. 

If you are unsure exactly what you should be including in your listing description, you can use this handy auction ad creator tool to give you a good starting point: http://www.auctionlotwatch.co.uk/auctionadcreator.html . 

Until next week as always I wish you the best of success,

Amanda

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I produce this newsletter on the understanding that these are my own personal opinions and experiences, which are as accurate as possible at the time of publication. I cannot be held responsible for any error in details, accuracy or judgment whatsoever. 

© Amanda O’Brien 2009 

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