Using the Bait and Hook Strategy to Make Money on eBay
http://www.webmarktools.net/articles/1363/1/Using-the-Bait-and-Hook-Strategy-to-Make-Money-on-eBay/Page1.html
Ed Staff
PowerSellerPros is a free eBay eBook that offers advice on how to make money on eBay, authored by a former eBay employee and PowerSeller. Ed Staff is a freelance writer. By Ed Staff
Published on 08/26/2009
We've all heard of the bait and switch strategy. The "bait and hook" strategy utilizes an ethical variant of bait and switch to help you make money on eBay.
We've all heard of the bait and switch strategy. Marketers "bait" a consumer by offering some unbelievably good deal. When the consumer enters the store to take advantage of this great deal, the salesman will redirect the buyer to a different product (the switch) to try and get the consumer to spend more money.
Since the advertised deal (the bait) would often result in a store losing money, some retailers have been known to go so far as to not carry any of the advertised item in stock to prevent losing money from the sales of it. The store made money by enticing the consumer into the store with a non-existent product and selling them some other, generally highly profitable, item instead.
This is NOT what I mean by "bait and hook." I consider bait and switch to be unethical, and I don't subscribe to such practices. However, the "bait" in bait and hook retains the same idea in essence, and can be used as an advanced marketing tactic to help you make money on eBay.
Your bait is still going to be a great deal on some (preferably very popular) product. Create a lot of focus on this product to build attention to it. This entails using several listing upgrades, in particular the Featured Plus! and possibly even Home Page Featured listing options.
Draw as much attention to this one listing as you can. Then use every cross-promotion technique you can to entice buyers to take a look at all your other listings.
This is a bit of an old school technique that early eBay sellers used with great effectiveness. Despite its age, it still has great potential to draw buyers in to listings of yours that they might not otherwise ever see.
Normally I recommend using your hottest item as your bait. Price it reasonably low, or if you're running a regular auction perhaps start the bidding out at $0.01 if you feel it's popular enough to generate a lot of bids, to attract even more buyers.
Keep in mind that this is an advanced marketing technique that can result in the loss of your investment. It's best saved for when you have a lot of experience selling on eBay as well as some experience testing past campaigns and interpreting test results.
However, when you feel ready to try something like this, don't let fear hold you back. Running a successful business requires that you lose money every once in awhile. A good businessperson understands that business is a risk, but that properly managed, is well worth the risk. Do it right, and you'll find "bait and hook" an effective tool for making money on eBay.
Since the advertised deal (the bait) would often result in a store losing money, some retailers have been known to go so far as to not carry any of the advertised item in stock to prevent losing money from the sales of it. The store made money by enticing the consumer into the store with a non-existent product and selling them some other, generally highly profitable, item instead.
This is NOT what I mean by "bait and hook." I consider bait and switch to be unethical, and I don't subscribe to such practices. However, the "bait" in bait and hook retains the same idea in essence, and can be used as an advanced marketing tactic to help you make money on eBay.
Your bait is still going to be a great deal on some (preferably very popular) product. Create a lot of focus on this product to build attention to it. This entails using several listing upgrades, in particular the Featured Plus! and possibly even Home Page Featured listing options.
Draw as much attention to this one listing as you can. Then use every cross-promotion technique you can to entice buyers to take a look at all your other listings.
This is a bit of an old school technique that early eBay sellers used with great effectiveness. Despite its age, it still has great potential to draw buyers in to listings of yours that they might not otherwise ever see.
Normally I recommend using your hottest item as your bait. Price it reasonably low, or if you're running a regular auction perhaps start the bidding out at $0.01 if you feel it's popular enough to generate a lot of bids, to attract even more buyers.
Keep in mind that this is an advanced marketing technique that can result in the loss of your investment. It's best saved for when you have a lot of experience selling on eBay as well as some experience testing past campaigns and interpreting test results.
However, when you feel ready to try something like this, don't let fear hold you back. Running a successful business requires that you lose money every once in awhile. A good businessperson understands that business is a risk, but that properly managed, is well worth the risk. Do it right, and you'll find "bait and hook" an effective tool for making money on eBay.