Building your Niche on eBay
July 12, 2007
To build or niche or not? That’s a tough question to answer since there is a large mix of successful generalists and niche sellers on eBay. It’s something we have been struggling with since the start. Really, our struggle has been what niche to get into. We have had very successful sales on all the items we have listed, but they have all been in different categories. Since we are buying mostly from liquidations, it makes repeat sourcing difficult.
eBay trading assistants typically do not specialize as they are selling what their customers bring in.(To a certain extent). They’re successful in many cases because they choose what items are worthwhile to sell and typically only list items they know will sell above a certain price. If your ambition is to become a trading assistant, having a niche may not be as important, especially if you have a brick and mortar storefront.
On the other hand, having a niche is extremely helpful for those without a storefront. Picking a niche can be difficult. Sometimes the areas and subjects that you are very passionate about are extremely competitive. Don’t get me wrong, you can succeed in those areas, it will just take a lot of hard work.
You’ll have an advantage if you are a subject matter expert since you’ll know what your customers are looking for. Additionally, having a niche makes it easier to cross-sell and upsell your customers on other related items. It also helps in getting repeat customers.
So, what tools do you use t find your niche? There are plenty of eBooks available to help you identify your niche. I’ve reviewed a handful of them and none seemed to really have any earth shattering ideas. Start with a pencil and paper and begin jotting down ideas and topics you enjoy. Then drill down deeper into each of those topics.
Research your niche with keywords. You’ll need to find how much competition is out there in your niche. You can use search engine results to determine your competition and there are lots of free tools available to assist with this as well. Check out SEOBook tools for a great list. Later you can begin driving traffic to your site based on those keywords. SEOBook is a great resource and can be purchased here.
I recently came across a software package that offers to help analyze what buyers are looking for on eBay’s WantItNow! section. The software is called Auction Inspector and can be purchased here.
Over the next few days I’m going to review the software and post my comments on the blog. At first glance it looks like a good product with potential. I haven’t seen anything else on the market that claims to analyze the WantItNow section of eBay.
If you have seen anything else, or have used this software, please post your comments.
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