Sell Much More Stuff on Trade Me in 2012 January 6, 2012
Posted by Michael Carney in : selling, trade me, trademe, training , add a commentNew Year, new resolutions. What are you planning to do in 2012 to upskill yourself and learn more about doing business on Trade Me this year?
Here’s how to make yourself more money on Trade Me in 2012:
- Read our Trade Me Success Secrets book from cover to cover
- Sign up for our Advanced Selling on Trade Me online course, which gives you plenty of hands-on advice on how to sell more effectively on Trade Me
PS We had paused our Advanced Selling on Trade Me course because of other demands on our time, but we’ve decided to run the course on a very limited basis in 2012. The course starts on Wednesday January 18, and we offer a special $124 Early Bird discount for bookings received by Wednesday 11 January, so we recommend you check the course out NOW.
SPECIAL JANUARY BONUS OFFER
We’ve never done this before, but consider it a belated Christmas gift: if you purchase our Advanced Selling on Trade Me course by midnight NZ time on January 11 2012 and quote this code (JAN11BONUS) we’ll send you a copy of our best-selling Trade Me Success Secrets book absolutely free! So don’t delay, BOOK HERE, NOW and claim your BONUS FREE GIFT!
What Buyers Want January 6, 2012
Posted by Michael Carney in : auctions, buying, selling, trade me, trademe , add a commentAh, if we only knew what people wanted to buy …
Well, as it happens we do have some ways of finding out. First, let’s take a look at some recent research from Nielsen USA, which asked those 13 and older what they intend to buy in the next six months. Here’s what they said:
You’ll notice that all these items are objects of techno-lust, which probably says more about the limited scope of the questionnaire than it does about the consumer. Still, it’s a useful guideline if you’re in the business of offering gadgets for sale.
If not, where else could you turn for information about what buyers are looking for?
First, look no further than the good old Trade Me newsletter, which each month reports on the most popular recent searches:
Secondly, to take a look at what is actually selling on Trade Me, wander over to their Sell-Through Statistics, where you’ll find what percentage of items in each category is actually selling:
This data will give you a heads-up on, for example, whether you’d be better concentrating your attention on selling antique clocks or antique flags. You’ll need to explore further, of course — some categories simply don’t have many listings, so percentages can be misleading — but this section is a good place to start your research.
Next, head to Google Zeitgeist and click through to the Top Ten lists for Kiwis — things we were searching for in 2011:
You’ll be able to drill down further, and find the hottest searches by month. For example, in November 2011 one of the most popular searches locally was for “Adele” (if you don’t know who she is, ask a young ‘un):
Where else can we turn for information on prospective buyers?
If you can identify the types of products you want to see, head to Google’s Keywords Tool. Here you can search by specific keywords, to determine the approximate local demand for a given keyword or phrase. For example, if we search for “ipad”, we find that there are an estimated 246,000 local searches for phases such as “which ipad”.
If you’d like to develop an even better understanding of your buyers and what they want, may we respectfully direct you to:
- our Trade Me Success Secrets book, which covers the topic in detail
- our Advanced Selling on Trade Me online course, which delves even more deeply into buyers, what they want, why they want it and how you can reach them effectively
PS We had paused our Advanced Selling on Trade Me course because of other demands on our time, but because of popular request (Mr Tom Popular requested it!), we’ve decided to run the course on a very limited basis in 2012. The first release is on Wednesday January 18, and we offer a special $124 Early Bird discount for bookings received by Wednesday 11 January, so we recommend you check the course out NOW.
7 Steps to Smarter Shopping November 30, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : buying , add a comment1. Try not to buy into the notion that you (or your significant others) simply must have the latest and the greatest — otherwise you’re almost certainly going to pay full price. High-demand goodies to avoid this holiday season (drawn from PriceMe’s list of the most sought-after items right now):
- Apple iPad demand up 1,800 percent
- Samsung Galaxy S up 600 percent
- Amazon Kindle up 240 percent
- Microwave ovens (general) up 101 percent
- PSP video games up 92 percent
- Fridges (general) up 45 percent
- eBook readers (general) up 40 percent
- Apple iPhone up 36 percent
Instead, look kindly on items like these, dropping in popularity on PriceMe (and thus potentially available at a good price on Trade Me):
- Freeview (TV) products down 53 percent
- Apple iPods down 31 percent
- Expresso machines (general) down 29 percent
- Trampolines down 26 percent
- Kinect games down 25 percent
2. During your prelimininary research phase, when you’ve decided on the sort of product you want to buy but are not sure which brand or which model, make Google your best friend. Search for information about the product category — magazine articles are usually a good place to start, because they tend to look at all the products in a particular field and give you a good overview. Depending on the product category, you’re likely to find those sorts of articles online. If not, go browsing at your local newsstand or even your local library (where you’ll usually find a wide range of magazines, although often not the latest issues).
3. Once you’ve chosen your desired item(s) to purchase, head to Google again. Search for information about that product — and particularly search for product reviews (search for the product/brand name and add in the word ‘review’). At the very least, you’ll gain an understanding of what other consumers, journalists or industry gurus think of the product; at best you’ll find out any flaws before you hand over any hard-earned cash.
4. In many cases, you’ll come across names of competitive products in the reviews. Search for information about those products as well – and even search for comparisons with your current favourite (search for compare BrandA BrandB). Again, you’ll end up with a better understanding of the comparative virtues of each product.
5. You might also like to put the word out amongst your more friends on Facebook or Twitter, letting them know what you’re after. Usually, a positive recommendation from a well-informed friend who you know personally is the most powerful endorsement of all.
6. Decision made? Okay, time to search for the actual item. Naturally, we recommend searching first on Trade Me (either by browsing through the relevant category on the site or by putting the product name into the search box). Once you find some parties offering the item for sale, browse their details (including their feedback rating — look for sellers who’ve amassed at least 100 positive feedbacks and better than 97% positive rating). Once you’ve decided which auction listings look good, add those auctions to your watchlist — you still have a little more homework to do before bedtime.
7. Before you do the deal on Trade Me, check out the pricing of your desired product at traditional retailers (just in case a retailer is selling the product at a lower pricetag than the Trade Me seller). Start with a trip to their website (although not every retailer lists every product online); if that doesn’t work for you, go to PriceMe.co.nz or (for technology-related items) PriceSpy.co.nz and search for your chosen product. Also check out the daily deal sites (GrabOne, Treat Me, Cudo, Groupy, Groupon et al) just in case there’s a special offer currently in place.
Happy that the best deal available to you is on Trade Me? Great! Follow the buying advice in our Trade Me Success Secrets book and you’re done and dusted!
You know it’s nearly Christmas when … October 31, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : Christmas , add a comment… Trade Me’s sleigh is sagging under the weight of around 30,000 listings that include the word “Christmas” or “Xmas”, yet the festive season itself is still about seven weeks away.
Most of the biggest Kiwi retailers don’t move seriously into pre-Christmas mode until the last Guy Fawkes sparkler has spluttered out the door on November 5. By then, however, the Trade Me Christmas Party is in full swing!
Why the early start?
This chart from the US National Retail Federation suggests that not all of us wait till Christmas Eve before splurging on our nearest and dearest:
Yep: collectively, almost four out of ten Christmas shoppers start their buying before November; and then another four out of ten turn into shopaholics in November. By the time the last two weeks of December come around, just 4% of us (men, you know who you are) have yet to get our act together [and yes, we know the chart shows American data, but the last Kiwi data we saw showed a similar pattern].
So what should you do?
If you’re buying, here are some of the hot items you should be considering:
Toyworld NZ’s Top Ten Toys for Christmas 2011
1 Beyblade Battle Set Reviving the classic game Battling Tops. Ages 8+
2 Cookie Pie Pup A dog toy for girls which responds to commands and blinks and barks. Ages 4+
3 Dinosaur Train Boris Tyrannosaurus from the Dinosaur Train TV show. Ages 3+
4 Elmo Rock Elmo sings with his microphone and plays tambourine and drums. Ages 18 months+
5 Glitter Lava Desk Set for making sparkly colourful stickers. Ages 4+
6 Lego ages vary
7 Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster Shoots discs long-range and features pulsing targeting lights. Ages 8+
8 Transformers ages 5+
9 Sylvanian Families ages 4+
10 3 Unit Gym Set Outdoor set for youngsters
For those with slightly bigger budgets:
On A Budget
If your pennies don’t spread quite that far, check out yet another graph from the National Retail Federation which tells what people are hoping for this Christmas:
Not exciting, perhaps, but at least you’ll be giving them something they really want …
If You’re Selling
If you sell stuff on Trade Me and want to cash in on the Christmas rush, then you should:
- Take a look at what’s hot on Trade Me — check out the 15 most popular searches of the previous month as revealed in the Trade Me newsletter.
- See what’s actually selling right now on the site, reviewing the Sell Through Rates by Category to see what percentages of auction listings actually sell
- Head to Google Insights for Search to see what Kiwis have been searching for over the last seven days (as we write this, rugby tends to be a common search term for some reason)
If you want more Christmas inspiration, click here for our Christmas stories from previous years!
Fundraising via Trade Me August 31, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : fundraising , add a commentTradeMe is a great way to fundraise for your school, sporting team, community group or charity, primarily because you can deal to several birds with one stone:
- Raising Funds
Doh. Naturally, Trade Me allows you to turn donated goods into cash – and to sell them to a much wider audience (2.8 million members and rising!) than would otherwise be possible through traditional fundraising methods. The more potential purchasers, the greater the likelihood you’ll achieve at least market value for the goods you’re selling — virtually 100% pure profit! - Promoting Your Cause
727,759 visitors wander the corridors of Trade Me every day. A Trade Me auction for your worthy cause gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself to a huge audience of potential supporters, both on Trade Me itself and through the publicity you’ll be able to generate by promoting your auction through traditional media (although you will have to fan the flame of publicity yourself, through the combined efforts of every single member of your organisation — you can’t expect people to just trip over your auction on Trade Me). - Harnessing Celebrity Power
Even very ordinary items can achieve star status if aligned with a celebrity, by ownership or autograph. Items once owned (or recently signed) by the Rich & Famous can attract bids well out of proportion to the real value of said item. So talk turkey with absolutely every member of your extended group — who do they know who’s clocked up at least 15 minutes of fame and could they twist arms so that said celebrity will donate, sign or otherwise add value to an item? Nag, plead or beg as necessary. - Finding New Donors
The more you sell (and the more interesting your items are), the more people who will learn about your cause. Each buyer is a potential addition to your Donor list. BTW, the very best items to auction off are for unique experiences that can’t normally be had for love nor money (eg lunch with major celebrity, walk-on part on The Hobbit, drawn as a bystander on Tintin, etc.) - Involving Your Whole Community
Not everyone can afford to make big donations, even if they are strong supporters of the cause. But most can find at least one item of value in their garage or attic that they no longer need.
So what specifically do you have to do to set up a fundraising auction on Trade Me? These are the ten basic steps to the process:
- Look first within your community or amongst your friends and acquaintances for someone who’s already selling successfully on Trade Me. They’ll already have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t on the site. If you don’t have any luck there, check out Trade Me’s online help pages for the essential details. Or you could always read a good book on the subject (ahem — do check out the Second Edition of Trade Me Success Secrets).
- Create a name for the event. If you have any budding artists on your midst, this is their chance to make a real contribution, drawing up a logo for the event for use on Trade Me and elsewhere.
- Set up a timetable for the event (ideally allow yourself three months to organise it all and a week for the auction to run).
- Pitch for donations. Ask your community to rummage through their homes and donate any items they’re not using. Talk to anybody who knows anyone of celebrity status and shamelessly hustle them to cadge for your cause.
- Photograph the items. Take multiple photos for each item and choose the very best images.
- Write colourful descriptions, as detailed as possible (you have 2048 characters to use, spend them all). You’re trying to sell these items to people who won’t have the opportunity to touch or inspect the merchandise before bidding.
- Write item headlines that identify the charity nature of your auction (as well as each item) eg “Autographed Rugby Ball, support Zonta”.
- Promote the auction to anyone who’ll listen – especially your local newspapers, radio stations, bloggers. Post fliers on noticeboards. Text, email or IM details to your community and ask them to spread the word. Tweet the auction on Twitter, promote it to your Facebook friends — get the word out there.
- Manage the auctions professionally. Answer any questions promptly (and with personality — funny questions and answers help auctions spread). Remember, you’re promoting a great cause. Take every opportunity to spread the word.
- Once each auction is over, communicate promptly with the successful bidder, take their money, send out the goods quickly. And don’t forget to invite them to join your cause!
If you’re a registered charity, Trade Me can help with additional support. See here for details.
That’s about it (apart from the other three hundred pages of advice in the Trade Me Success Secrets book, of course). Happy Fundraising!
Where’s The Money? August 3, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : most valuable, selling , 2commentsWhich are the most valuable categories on Trade Me?
There are potentially quite a few different ways to answer that question, depending on how you define the term “most valuable”. For example, if you opted for a definition that encompasses the highest overall pricetags in a given category, then Trade Me Property would win by a country mile.
Or you could look at the highest cumulative value of items in a general category (excluding Property and Motor Vehicles), in which case Womenswear would probably win based on its volume (175,000+ items in a typical week).
Another possibility: assessing a category based on the historical highest bid in that category — in which case, do we include or exclude joke bids such as the $99,999,999 offered for the iceberg that floated close to New Zealand in November 2006? And should we also include the auction where someone tried to sell Australia, as is, where is?
No, we decided to ground this analysis in reality and so we’ve settled for the definition of “Average Selling Price” per category. The higher the Average Selling Price (the amount that items actually sold for, not the listing price), the greater the value (even if actual numbers sold were low).
Against that yardstick, then, the Top 20 Most Valuable Categories on Trade Me are:
20. The Snooker & Pool category(encompassing Cues, Tables & Other items). Average Selling Price: $210.37
19. Accommodation (both domestic and international): $216.79
18. Mobility Aids (Scooters, Wheelchairs, Walking frames & sticks) $220.63
17. Computer Servers (including components): $223.39
16. Building & Renovation (a diverse range of materials, from tarpaulins to portable buildings): $227.78
15. Kites, Stunt Kites & kitesurfing gear: $232.16
14. Tickets to Sporting Events: $235.30
13. Trampolines, a perennial favourite: $237.93
12. Apple Computers (including peripherals): $247.92
11. Arcade & Pinball Gaming Machines: $253.18
10. Kitchen building and renovation materials: $254.09
9. Digital Cameras: $267.85
8. Desktop computers: $268.28
7. Farming & Forestry products: $296.89
6. Kayaks & Canoes: $325.68
5. Industrial equipment & machinery: $329.57
4. Internet Domain Names: $409.02
3. Holiday travel packages: $939.22
2. Flights: $977.52
And the most valuable items sold on Trade Me (excluding Property and Motor Vehicles)?
1. Businesses for Sale: $6,864.73
If you were wondering what you should sell on Trade Me, those are twenty high-value possibilities for your consideration.
Twelve Top Trading Tips July 10, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : auctions, buying, selling , 2commentsWhat does it take to do well on Trade Me these days? Here are a dozen tips to spice up your trading:
1.Know What’s Hot
What are the most popular items on Trade Me right now, within your chosen category? Here’s one way to find out:
(a) Click on the ‘Browse’ button, just under Kev the Kiwi.
(b) Find your category (we’ve chosen Carpet, Tiles & Flooring in the Building & Renovations section for our example).
(c). Click on the link to take you to the chosen section. Once you get there, you may want to drill down a little further (in our example, we might refine the search to focus on carpets).
(d) Once you’ve reached your chosen destination, use the “sort by” feature and sort by “”Most Bids”:
(e) Browse the top results and you’ll see what’s currently most popular within the category — very useful whether you’re selling or buying, especially in categories driven by fashion, technology or price.
2. Know What’s Cool
Want to see what auctions the Trade Me team think are cool — and they should know! Head here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/cool-auctions. Content refreshes daily.
3. Know What’s Selling
The Trade Me numbercrunchers are always hard at work analysing what’s happening on the site — and once a month they publish a roundup of the percentages of items that sell in each of Trade Me’s categories. It’s a great way to identify how well you’re doing versus your competitors and peers — and even whether you’re selling the right types of products (grass on the other side always sells better, of course).
You’ll find the monthly Sell-Through Statistics here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/SellThroughRates.aspx
4. Know What Others Paid
Wanting to sell that seldom-used coffeemaker but not sure what you might get for the effort? By using Trade Me’s Expired Listings search facility you can identify recent prices and determine whether it’s worth the effort of posting on Trade Me.
(a) Head to the search box at the top of the Trade Me listings and click on “More Options”.
(b) Type your search term into the box (and make certain that “Expired Listings” is selected).
(c) Sort the results by “Most bids” and the items that actually attracted bids will rise to the top of the results.
(d) Check out the comparative prices paid for items similar to yours (for up to the last two months) and make your decision.
5. Know What Others Think Of The Seller
Before you buy anything of value on Trade Me, check out the reputation of the seller — see the feedback score in the “About The Seller” box near the bottom of each auction.
At least 100 Feedback Ratings and 100%? Great! Otherwise, dig a little deeper — click on the feedback number and read the actual feedback posted about this seller (especially any negative comments).
6. Know On What Days & At What Times To Finish Your Auction
Best days to close your auctions (because more buyers are browsing on Trade Me): Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays. Best time? Usually between 9pm and 10pm (but watch out if there’s a popular TV programme on the night your auction is due to close — the box still has great drawing power if the show has the right stuff).
7. Know What An Item Costs Elsewhere
Don’t just do your comparison shopping on Trade Me — try searching on PriceSpy or PriceMe, check out current deals on TreatMe, Groupon or GrabOne, and keep a watch on local retailer catalogues. Deals are all around us.
8. Know What Photos You Should Provide
Before you list an item on Trade Me, take a look at those selling competitive products. what photos do they provide? Is there anything special about what you’re offering? Capture it on virtual celluloid and upload it to your listing.
9. Know What To Say About Your Product
If you describe your product in very few words on your listing, you deserve to get a lousy price. Do your homework, list as much relevant information as you can and you’ll come out better off.
10. Know The Rules
Trade Me has rules. Read up on them (here or in the book Trade Me Success Secrets).
11. Know What To Do After The Sale
Your customers will judge you on what you do after the auction is over. As soon as you’re paid, ship!
12. Know When To Bid
The one essential piece of advice you need to know before you bid for anything on Trade Me is this: you shouldn’t bid at all until the last few minutes of any auction. Read more here.
PS If you want to find out a whole lot more about all this stuff, take a good look at the Second Edition of Trade Me Success Secrets.
Buying Goes Mobile June 8, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : iPhone app, mobile , add a commentMore and more traders are now doing their browsing and buying through their mobile phones, especially since Trade Me launched their iPhone application in November 2010.
Are the numbers significant? Actually, yes:
- In April, around 1.5 million Trade Me sessions (just over 1% of all sessions) occurred via a mobile device
- Over three-quarters of those visits occurred via the Trade Me iPhone app
Mobile browsers don’t only use the iPhone — Nokia, Android, iPads and Blackberries are also in evidence (visits to Trade Me’s mobile site at http://m.trademe.co.nz represent 23% of total mobile visits). But the growth in mobile has definitely been driven by the iPhone app – mobile activity started to move upwards noticeably when Trade Me launched the app 7 months ago.
The take-up for the new app has exceeded all expectations. Trade Me estimated they’d get perhaps 50,000 downloads in the first seven months — so far they’ve hit over 125,000, with more than 15,000 downloads of the application in each of March, April and May.
Here are some of the drool-worthy stats for the Trade Me iPhone app:
- 42,000 users sessions per day
- 275,000 sessions per week
- 1 million sessions per month (1.5 million sessions in May)
- 86,000 people have used the app since it was released
The most used functions via the iPhone app: search, checking watchlists.
So are these mobile browsers actually buying stuff this way on Trade Me, or do they just like to watch?
Check out these numbers:
- 3000 items were sold on Trade Me via the iPhone app last week – note that this is just successful winning actions (bid/fixed price offer/buy now). The level of participation in auctions is much higher as not everyone wins just because they are bidding from an iPhone! In fact, 14,000 people place a bid via iPhone app in a typical week.
- And these bids aren’t just for cheap stuff. The biggest recent sale was a motorhome that sold for $140,000 via the iPhone app.
Implications for Sellers
Yes, 99% of Trade Me transactions still take place via the good old web browser, so the iPhone isn’t going to take over the world of Trade Me anytime soon. But, with more than a million Trade Me visits a month happening via iPhone, you should at least be aware of the way your auction listing is displayed on an iPhone — and what you need to do to achieve the best result for your listings.
First, let’s take a look at how the iPhone displays the results of searches:
Note that only part of the headline — typically the first 25 characters — is displayed on this initial screen (just half of the 50 characters that you’re allowed to use in headlines). Suddenly the order of the words in your listing headlines has become really important — put the key benefit first.
You’ll also note from the above example that only really short headlines (such as the first listing) have space to display the “Pay Now” symbol and the “New” designation. It’s up to you to decide whether including those elements is important enough to forego making as much use as possible of the Headline space.
Next, let’s drill down and have a look at how a typical listing is displayed on the iPhone:
Not a lot of words displayed on that first screen. It’s all about the picture of the product. Suddenly, images (and especially that first photo on display) have increased dramatically in importance. Don’t settle for anything less than compelling for your primary photo.
Too Soon?
If you just look at the usage percentages, 1% seems a pretty minor share for mobile phones — hardly worth the effort. But take a look at smartphone penetration overall and you get a different perspective. By the end of 2010, it’s estimated that around 25% of Kiwis were carrying smartphones — and something like 80% of new mobile phone sales are of smartphone models. Since most of us change our phones every couple of years, we can expect smartphone penetration to increase dramatically here in NZ (as elsewhere around the world). Within the next twelve months, it’s likely that smartphone ownership will be in the majority — and many of those people will be starting to transact on Trade Me via mobile as they get more comfortable with the capabilities of their new toys.
Are you ready?
Should sellers offer “Buy Now”? May 11, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : Buy Now, selling , add a commentOne of the intrinsic appeals of any auction is the uncertainty surrounding the final amount to be paid. For the buyer, there’s the tantalising possibility that they will score the item on offer for far less than it’s really worth. The seller, on the other hand, is ever hopeful that a bidding war will erupt that just might result in a windfall being paid, if two or more eager bidders drive up the price.
These days, many Trade Me auctions offer a “Buy Now” option — a chance for buyers to grab an item without going through the auction process. “Buy Now” does remove uncertainty from the equation — but at the same time it also takes away some of the fun (and the possibility of unexpected outcomes, for better or for worse).
So is “Buy Now” a good option for sellers to offer (and buyers to use)?
We took a recent look at the numbers to find out.
If we start with the total number of Trade Me general auctions that closed successfully over the last twelve months, on average 36% of auctions closed using Buy Now, 54% by Auction and 10% by Fixed Price Offer (after the auction has closed).
That’s the result across all general categories on Trade Me, but there are variations depending on the type of product on offer (and whether the items are new or used). Some highs and lows:
- In Used items the category with the highest percentage of auctions sold using Buy Now is Gaming at 40%, followed by Mobile phones at 39% and Computers at 36%. The category with the lowest sold using Buy Now is Pottery and Glass at 15%.
- In the case of New items, Mobile Phones are at the top of the list at 73% sold by Buy Now, followed by Movies & TV at 71% and Pets and Animals at 68%. The category with the lowest sold by Buy Now rate is Jewellery & Watches at 28%.
The conclusion we draw from those results: that where items on offer are more easily understood and evaluated (especially with new products featuring well-known brands, in sectors such as technology where product specifications and comparisons are readily available), buyers are comfortable with what they are purchasing and willing to make an rapid and informed decision (and commit to that decision via Buy Now).
However where the value of items on offer is more subjective (eg art, jewellery and the like), consumers are less confident and more likely to look to the market to set the price. As a result, they’ll either simply add the item to their watchlist (and check in later to see how the auction is going) or place a bid at a price they’re comfortable with — and see what others are bidding for the item as the auction nears its close.
So if you have products to sell in the right sorts of categories, a “Buy Now” price is likely to be reasonably effective in encouraging instant purchases.
If your products fall into more subjective areas, then you’ll need to provide more objective reinforcements — eg testimonials from happy customers, external price comparisions (“Recommended Retail Price is $X so you’re getting a great deal”) or compelling reasons to act now (“only three left so click on Buy Now to claim your copy”).
Another possibility, if you want to encourage Buy Now usage: offer a bonus if they click on Buy Now (eg “free shipping with Buy Now”). Of course you’ll need to set your Buy Now pricing to cover the cost of providing such extras, which leads us into the next topic:
How Much?
Another issue for sellers to consider — if you’re giving up the possibility of bidding-war windfalls, how should you set the price of your “Buy Now”? The same as your Start Price? A premium?
Again, we look to the statistics for guidance:
- Over the last year on average 50% of auctions with Buy Now have the Buy Now matching the Start price, although that jumped to 61% in December 2010 with more sellers taking advantage of the busy Christmas season.
- Overall, Buy Nows are on average 13% greater than the Start price, although this dropped to a 10% difference in December 2010 (NB Needless to say, auctions that started at $1 and had a Buy Now were showing a premium many hundreds or thousands of percent higher).
Here, we suggest that other pricing dynamics are in play (and we refer you to Chapter Eleven of TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS, which covers in much greater depth the pricing possibilities on Trade Me). Briefly, however:
- You might set your Start Price below the normal selling price to attract interest, with the Buy Now price still attractive but not quite so low
- You might have a product that is in significant demand, so your Start Price is the recommended retail price but the Buy Now offers instant gratification for those who just can’t wait
- Or your product might be readily available offered by a number of sellers, so your Buy Now price is set at the same as your (competitive) Start Price, to meet the market
Three-quarters of general auctions on Trade Me now offer “Buy Now”. As we’ve seen on our romp through the numbers, that works well for some categories — but not for everyone (or at least not without other encouragements or sweeteners).
How to be a Great Trade Me Buyer April 7, 2011
Posted by Michael Carney in : buying , 1 comment so farThe auction’s over. You won. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner-to-be. Time to get acquainted with the seller.
As soon as the auction is finished, if you’re the successful bidder the seller’s email address will be displayed alongside the auction details. Both you and the seller will be emailed each other’s contact details by Trade Me. If the seller is making use of Trade Me’s automated services, you’ll also receive an email giving Payment Instructions (and possibly offering the opportunity to use Trade Me’s Pay Now service).
Your next step is simple: email the seller promptly, confirm that you’ve won the auction and, if the item is to be sent or delivered to you, give your address details (unless you too are taking advantage of Trade Me’s labour-saving devices and have already set up your delivery address info through your “My Trade Me” pages). If you haven’t already received the seller’s Payment Instructions, ask for their fiscal particulars (e.g. their bank account if you’re paying through that method) and await a response.
Not everyone constantly monitors their email — from the seller’s point of view it’s probably been a week since they listed the item so they’re not necessarily hanging around the keyboard waiting for your message. Give them a couple of days to come back to you before sending through a polite reminder.
PAYMENT
Once the seller’s been in touch with you and given you their payment details, pay promptly.
If the seller does offer Trade Me’s Pay Now credit card payment service (and you’re in a position to take advantage of that service using either credit or debit card), fantastic! All the relevant information (including your user name, auction number and chosen address) is automagically communicated to the seller. If you can use Pay Now, we definitely recommend you do so — it removes a whole lot of pain from the virtual paperwork you’ll otherwise have to face.
Alternatively, if you’re paying directly into the seller’s bank account, make certain that you include the Auction Number (and, ideally, your User ID, since it is possible for the same Auction Number to refer to two different auction transactions) in one of the reference fields so that they can easily identify the payment.
We recommend you send a followup email to the seller once you’ve paid, giving them all the payment details and again referencing the Auction Number and your User ID. Some Trade Me sellers (particularly the 10,000 who qualify as Top Sellers) list hundreds or thousands of auctions on the site every week. It can be a nightmare for them to track down your payment if you don’t give them the right details.
PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER, PATIENCE
You’ve paid, you’ve told the seller you’ve paid, maybe you’ve even had an email back confirming receipt of the payment.
Time to wait. Sending stuff out is the most time-intensive part of doing business on Trade Me and some sellers prefer to organise all their despatches on the same day. Then there’s the time in transit. If your item has been sent by courier (or tracked NZ Post services) you can Track and Trace it all the way home. Otherwise, stand by your (snail) mailbox: here it comes…
LISTEN TO THE PROS
When we were interviewing top traders for the “Trade Me Success Secrets” book, we asked them to tell us about their favourite Trade Me customers. If you want to be appreciated as an excellent Trade Me buyer (and get great feedback), learn from these examples:
- queeneQ: ‘They trade efficiently, i.e. get back to you with required information well ahead of the time allowed, you get all the information you ask for first time and they pay when they say.’
- silverrow1: ‘I have a few special return customers that always bring a smile to my face as they are such lovely people to deal with. I even have a few who have my account details permanently logged on their online banking.’
- kris21: ‘They pay on time, they are honest. If they cannot pay within the three days stated on the auction, they will ask if they can pay by a certain day.’
- dartangnan: ‘I have a regular customer base of wonderful buyers who use Buy Now, have my account details on file and pay right away. They send chatty emails about friends and family and are a pleasure to deal with in every way.’
- cher4u: ‘Very grateful, thankful … they even write and let me know how much. I offer clothing for ladies size 22 and over, for those that can’t go into a shop to buy.’
- chelley: ‘I have quite a few regulars who are always great to deal with. They almost become friends. I do remember one guy who was so rapt with his purchase that he felt I had undervalued it and put more money into my bank account.’
- saje: ‘My best buyers are prompt payers who do what they say they are going to do, when they say they are going to do it. They place good feedback for a good trade and they let you know if something goes wrong in the post without taking it out on you.’
- alfle: ‘Our best customers? There are a lot of them out there and they all do the same thing … they read the auction, they decide after some research that the product is right for them, use a Buy Now, provide address and full details straight away, read our email (all of it) containing payment details, pay immediately, reference the payment with their auction number as asked. We send the product to them with a tracking email. They wait two days but Courier Post have misdirected it, so they ring CourierPost directly and Courier Post promptly redirects their package without us even knowing. They get the product and they read the manual. In short they are intelligent, independent people.’
There is a real art to being a good Trade Me buyer, but in essence it all boils down to the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
PS Biggest single gripe about Trade Me Buyers by Trade Me’s Top Sellers: buyers who pay but don’t send through address details, requiring costly manual followup emails. Stay off their Grump List: don’t forget to send out your delivery address!!
