Business Opportunities Weblog

September 8, 2004 by Dane Carlson | 1 Comment

In this week’s Entrepreneur’s Diary, John Canter explains the lessons he’s learned in six months of selling his store’s slow moving inventory on eBay:

When I first started using eBay, I didn’t think I’d needed to do much marketing to sell an item. That’s not the case. Whereas in a traditional store, a salesperson can describe a product’s features in person, the text I write about an item on eBay is my prime marketing tool. I’ve learned that the most effective way to market a product is to weave a story around it, then include motivational headers, such as “You can be a Picasso!” or “Impress your friends with your own art!” to highlight the item.

This knowledge didn’t come easy. One of my earliest listings carried the header “Paintbrushes” and said nothing more about the item than “Number 12 Winsor and Newton oil and acrylic paint brush.” I’ll head off your question right now; no, I did not get any bids for that listing.

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