So you’ve been buying and selling on Trade Me for a while and now you want to turn your Trade Me dealings into a profitable business?

As you’ll quickly find out, that’s not as easy as it looks. Sure, it’s simple to set yourself up as a seller and join the many thousands who sell on Trade Me — but if you want to make some serious money doing business on Trade Me, you have to do your homework first. And who better to advise you than Michael Carney, author of Trade Me Success Secrets, who has been analysing and advising about Trade Me since 2005?

Michael has just released his new online training course, the Trade Me Advanced Selling Secrets Programme. In this seven-week course we cover:

INTRODUCTION

In which we discuss the secrets of selling successfully on Trade Me, identify the various elements we’ll be covering during the course and examine the skills you’ll need to have (or hire in) as your selling operation expands. At the end of this section we’ll be setting a self-assessment questionnaire to determine if you have what it takes to be a top Trade Me seller.

LESSON ONE: TURNING PROSPECTS INTO BUYERS

We talk about prospective buyers, discuss what makes them buy (or not), review how and why they’ve changed in the last few years and explore their motivations (and how you can trigger the urge to buy). We also look at what times of the day and times of the week consumers are most likely to visit Trade Me, what times of year they’re most likely to be looking for Trade Me deals — and how you can keep watch on their current interests.

LESSON TWO: WHAT ACTUALLY SELLS ON TRADE ME

In this lesson we show you how you can find out what people are actually searching for — on Trade Me and elsewhere on the web — and where to go to find out what’s hot now (and what will be hot next). Are you actually selling the right products on Trade Me? Here’s where you find out.

LESSON THREE: WHAT PROSPECTIVE BUYERS WANT TO KNOW

The underlying principle behind Trade Me is nothing short of miraculous: asking people to send money to sellers they don’t know, for a product they haven’t seen. In this lesson we explore the steps you must take to build your reputation and credibility online — and how to protect that reputation at all costs.

LESSON FOUR: GETTING NOTICED

You won’t sell anything if you don’t attract visitors to your listings — but how do you get noticed amongst more than two million other listings? Sometimes, it’s easy to see why an auction goes viral and picks up hundreds of thousands of pageviews. When Tana Umaga picked up that handbag and demonstrated Management By Hitting Out, the cybersphere went wild. But what happened to turn that Scary Washing Machine into a phenomenon? We identify some of the strategies that make auctions sizzle. And we look at the increasing importance of other online tools to get the word out.

LESSON FIVE: MAKING MORE MONEY FROM EVERY SALE

Great — you made a sale! Your auction closed successfully. But how do you grow the money you earn from every sale? We take you through smart strategies to ensure that you’ve maximised the amount of money you can earn — all the while adding value to the customer. Easy? No — but then, if it was, everyone would do it!

LESSON SIX: SURVIVING TRADE ME SUCCESS

So now you’re selling successfully on Trade Me — but you’re also drowning in paperwork, struggling to get goods out the door and in danger of being overwhelmed by your own success. We look at currently available tools and best practices and talk you through what you need to do to cope.

LESSON SEVEN: COMPETING AGAINST GIANTS

Once of the most common questions we receive from Top Sellers: “how do I compete effectively against the category killers? They have the buying power and I’m just a small business.” Well, as David found when he went up against Goliath, there are definitely ways to compete and win. We explore those strategies and start you thinking about what it takes.

CONCLUSION

Time to turn all that learning into a planned sales programme. We give you the tools (or tell you where to find them)

TIMING

This course begins on Thursday June 7.

This seven-part eCourse is available for $497 +GST. However we offer an Early Bird Discount of $100 +GST for bookings and payment received by Thursday 31 May.

Bookings are confirmed on receipt of payment, which can be by cheque, bank deposit or credit card. We can raise an invoice in advance if you need it.

To reserve your place in this course, please pay by Visa or Mastercard through Australian processor PayMate by clicking here.

(The service provider will be shown as Netmarketing Services Limited in your transaction and on your credit card statement).

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Your booking will be confirmed by email (if you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours, feel free to email michael (at) trademesuccesssecrets.com).

On June 7 you will be supplied by email with login details and Course Notes for the first lesson.

Further Lessons will be provided at weekly intervals for the duration of the seven-part course.

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Trade Me has signed a deal with international e-commerce company ChannelAdvisor which will see that organisation’s data management and analytical tools available for use with Trade Me.

The ChannelAdvisor arrangement would see more new products on Trade Me in time for the 2012 Christmas season, the company told the NZX.

ChannelAdvisor enables manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to submit a single inventory feed which is then translated into the specifications of numerous e-commerce channels (such as eBay, Amazon and a great many others) and distributed accordingly.

Some of the implications for Trade Me:

• Larger organisations will now be able to list their wares on Trade Me more effectively
• Data analytics tools will enable sellers to more easily track information such as Gross Merchandise Value, Order Volumes and Average Order Value
• Live listings can be managed in bulk

The ChannelAdvisor offering should enable more of New Zealand’s leading brands to sell directly on Trade Me, as well as allowing major retailers to manage large volumes of product listings on the site.

The ink is barely dry on this deal so a few of the details remain to be ironed out. We’ll report  more in due course.

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Payments made between banks will be processed hourly on weekdays. This means you, and those you pay, could receive money the same day payment is made

A bit more digging led to the discovery that (a) the initiative apparently came from the Reserve Bank; and (b) there are still a few inconsistencies in the way the new scheme operates. For example, “hourly” starts for Kiwibank at 9.45am and finishes at 2.45pm; however Westpac don’t operate with “hourly” until the afternoon, according to what we’ve been told. And no doubt the other banks will have their own timetables as well.

What this means, if you’re a Trade Me buyer, is that internet banking just moved a whole lot closer to real-time. Buy something in the morning and pay for it immediately by internet banking and you have a reasonable expectation that the seller will receive the money that same day.

Of course, for the seller, that means there’s an increased expectation that you will be in a position to despatch your product on the same day as well.

No pressure …

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Here’s how to make yourself more money on Trade Me in 2012:

1. Read our Trade Me Success Secrets book from cover to cover
2. 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 [Sorry, no longer available]
   

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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.

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1. 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!

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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

(according to the NZ Herald)

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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!

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• 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:

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. Set up a timetable for the event (ideally allow yourself three months to organise it all and a week for the auction to run).
4. 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.
5. Photograph the items. Take multiple photos for each item and choose the very best images.
6. 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.
7. Write item headlines that identify the charity nature of your auction (as well as each item) eg “Autographed Rugby Ball, support Zonta”.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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!

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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.

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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.

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