eBay… the way to get your product in front of the largest audience on the planet. I’ve found this to be shockingly true. When I was in high school, $5 meant a lot more to me than it does now. I would list $5 items left and right. Nearly every item, no matter how tiny and obscure, would garner at least 50 interested buyers! Backstreet Boys CDs, old USB powered mice, no matter what the item, 50 people would look at it.

Even though there are so many viewers, your item may not sell on its first go round. But that’s okay. Don’t change its price or give up completely. Instead, you should relist.

eBay has an amazing relist feature. After those 50 tire kickers decide to pass on your product, eBay will show another 50 people after you relist. By just relisting once, your item is now exposed to 100 (!) people!

“How do I relist on eBay?”

The eBay relisting process has come a long way since I was in high school some seven years ago. Today, the relisting process is simple. Go to my eBay – unsold – click relist for each item you want relisted. Done.

If you want to change up the listing just select the edit option. I will sometimes do this when I want to schedule a start date. That’s really all I used it for. Again, I don’t typically lower the prices on my items. If the first 50 lookers decide to pass, the next 50 lookers may go for it. If the first 100 people aren’t interested, by week 3, of the 150 people who will have seen my lame Backstreet Boys CD, one of them will surely buy.

“Does it cost extra to relist on eBay?”

No, it does not if you do it manually. If you opt for ‘automatic relisting’ there’s a small fee associated. However, I have never used the service. It’s hardly worth the price, in my opinion.

If you want to relist, multiple items, you can select the ‘relist all items’ option.

I’ve found there’s really no perfect time of day to catch buyers. I used to try to end auctions on Sunday evenings. I figured everyone is home then, they will be more likely to buy my stuff. Even if that is true, it may not be the wisest tactic. I’ve found that by listing things to end at obscure times, people are more likely to go for the ‘buy it now’ option. I usually list the ‘buy it now’ price about 10% above what I think the item will sell for at auction. If people really don’t want to bid in the middle of the afternoon, they can pay the premium – and they gladly do.

“What does this ultimately mean in terms of dollars?”

My blue star on eBay forbids me from writing a holistic statistical analysis of the benefits of relisting. However, I would say relisting items has allowed me to earn about 20% more money than if I would have just given up after my first auction. For every $1,000 worth of merchandise I sell, I get an extra $200 thanks to this easy relist feature. This makes relisting worth it.

Are you willing to give relisting a try? It’s free. It’s simple. All you need is a little patience.

 

–Will