Tips for Overstock Auction Sellers

[mandy]

Tips for sellers from Overstock Auctions:

As we approach the busiest selling weeks of the year, I would like to impart some tips and invite other seasoned sellers to offer their own. Please join in by sharing your own strategies and suggestions. Be sure to avoid “discussion” and keep your posts relevant to the topic at hand, for the sake of easy reference. (I’ll likely remove any posts that are not applicable.) Here are a few to start out with:


Presentation! – How likely would you be to walk in to a store which has no outer décor, signage, or indication of what’s inside? Much like a brick and mortar retail store, which advertises its name, product, hours of operation, etc. with big, catchy neon signs, your auction "store" is open for business 24/7. It’s to your advantage to make it look inviting!

Take the time to flesh out your personal homepage. Adding pictures/logos, along with text to give buyers a brief biography of yourself will give you a “human” face, adding sincerity and credibility to your profile and listings. A balance of professional presentation and good humor can go a long way in inspiring buyer confidence.

If you are inexperienced with HTML, there are sellers who offer templates which can be used both for your auction listings and homepage. Plugging the term “Auction Templates” into the search box here on the Auctions site or on Google will provide several options. An attractive template can further help you establish your reputation and brand.

Get Organized, Get Help, Get Going! If you plan on listing more than 50 items at any time, it can become cumbersome to keep on top of the logistics that come with selling, such as creating listings, relisting, monitoring inventory levels, invoicing and accounting, etc. A third party Auction Management Provider can streamline your processes and keep you organized, much like a PDA or personal assistant helps you stay on top of everyday life tasks. There are several third parties who have integrated with Overstock.com Auctions. Their prices and services vary as widely as your own personal needs. It may take a bit of time to set up initially, but the time you’ll save in the long run is invaluable. With prices ranging from $0.00 to $2,000.00 per month, there’s a suitable provider for everyone. See “Auction Management Providers” on the following page:

http://auctions.overstock.com/cgi-bin/auctions.cgi?PAGE=STATIC&PAGENUM=102

Take advantage of Subscription Pricing. O-Subscription Plans provide a thrifty alternative to insertion fees, allowing you to minimize upfront risk and maximize profit margins.

http://auctions.overstock.com/cgi-bin/auctions.cgi?PAGE=static&pagenum=17535

Know Your Product and Competition. Research the value of your product and know what your competition is offering for the same item(s). Perform a “closed item” search (available under “advanced search”) to see what price range you can expect your item to deliver. Services like www.smartcollector.com are helpful in aggregating this knowledge for you quickly. Knowing your product’s popularity factor and ASP (Average Selling Price) will be helpful in determining whether to list it in an auction format or a MIM (Make It Mine) format. The auction format works well for items that are in high demand (i.e. collector’s items, Tickle Me Elmo, iPod) and are likely to inspire bidding competition. MIM format works better for items that don’t move as quickly and would normally sell better in a “Store” format, or have been shown to sell consistently in the same pre-determined price range. (i.e. Seller X has been consistently selling widget for $36.00, so you decide to offer it with a MIM of $35.50)

Define Yourself. Overstock.com Auctions’ FAQ pages will answer most questions you may have regarding policies you are expected to uphold by using this site. In supplement to those policies, you should clearly define your personal policies within your auction descriptions. A buyer with too many questions is a buyer who is less likely to bid. Much as you would describe your product completely to make it palatable, you should spell out your policies to inspire bidding confidence. Anticipating and covering potential questions will ensure the buyer has less reason to hesitate in bidding. It will also reduce the amount of time you spend answering questions via email. What is your Payment Policy? What is your Shipping Policy? What is your Return Policy?

Use FREE Subtitles to Maximize Search Exposure. Subtitles are FREE and searchable at Overstock.com Auctions. They provide you with more “billboard space” to advertise your auction and grab attention. Mention a special promotion (i.e. “Free Shipping” or “Buy One Get One Free”) Use as many relevant* keywords as possible to describe your item, ensuring the likelihood your item will appear in keyword search results. Anticipate the ways buyers will search for the item. What words would you use to search for the item yourself, if you were looking to buy one?

*Note: Keywords must be relevant to the item for sale and cannot be abused for the sake of unfairly manipulating search results.

Stagger Your Listings. While the use of subtitles can boost your product’s exposure in keyword search results, staggering your listings can boost your exposure in browsing results. When browsing listings, they are sorted by default, to “ending first”. By staggering your listings to end hourly/daily as opposed to a chunk of them listing and ending at the same time, you will maintain a higher chance of being seen, by having auctions continually rolling off throughout the day and week. This is where an Auction Management Provider can come in handy, allowing you to customize your listing schedule.

http://forums.auctions.overstock.com/viewtopic.php?t=15811&sid=a2e358ec17fb9c3971097b807c3f805c

[iron_chick]

PPPP

Overstock represents 99% of my headaches and 1% of my sales.
About a 50% NPB rate.  Their ASQ for some reason doesn't work for anything sent to me - they've been working on fixing this for over a month.    They were saying the problem was on my end and finally admitted it's theirs, but didn't remove the neg I got because of it.

Basically just a major PITA.

OK, I'm done bitching.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!  :turkey2:

[thentavius]

Overstock represents 99% of my headaches and 1% of my sales.
About a 50% NPB rate.

Same here. I'm sick of Overstock. I list hordes of things and sell very few items, if any. Those I do sell, I have to pull teeth to get paid.

It's great for self-esteem. LOL.

[bargainbloodhound]

sell very few items, if any

You really need to join BuySafe to get sales on O.  The majority of items listed/sold on the site now are all BuySafe.  Without the exposure in the main store search you get from being bonded sales will suck.

[thentavius]

You really need to join BuySafe to get sales on O.  The majority of items listed/sold on the site now are all BuySafe.  Without the exposure in the main store search you get from being bonded sales will suck.

That probably explains it to the T.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=6093.msg33683#msg33683 date=1164524649]

You really need to join BuySafe to get sales on O.  The majority of items listed/sold on the site now are all BuySafe.  Without the exposure in the main store search you get from being bonded sales will suck.

That probably explains it to the T.
[/quote]

Yep.  The main store has 10 million monthly visitors.  The number of visitors to their auctions are nowhere near that number.  That extra exposure really helps.

Here's a search (for t-shirts) from Overstock's home page.  Scroll down and you'll see the gallery listing of BuySafe Auction t-shirt sellers

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?SEC_IID=20496&PAGE=ENDECA&SearchType=HP_Header&N=0&keywords=t-shirt

In the Auctions t-shirt category 1,821 of 2,092 items are being sold by TrustedMerchant/BuySafe sellers.  If you're not one of them you're at a huge disadvantage.

[amy]

I'm going to split this latest (completely boinking insane) Overstock 'Make it Mine' announcement into its own topic because it definitely deserves one.

EDIT: the new topic
Overstock Loses Its boinking Mind: Requires 'Make It Mine' Price to be 2X Opening Bid
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...112.0.html