What Kind Of Seller Are You?

When selling on ebay, most new sellers take the shotgun approach.  They find items they have and start trying to sell them.  When something sells, they try to find another item like it and try to sell that one.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  That's the typical cycle.  The problem is that sometimes that one sale on that one item is all you will ever get.  You just happened to list it at the right time when that one seller was looking for it.  It may take another year or even longer for someone else to come searching for that item.  If you do that enough times you wind up with a bunch of stale inventory.  So what is the best approach in selling?

There are typically two types of sellers.  I liken these to two types of retail stores.  You have Walmart that sells a wide range of products.  They try to be all things to all people.  There are also ebay sellers who do the same thing.  The down side to this is that you need a ton of space to be able to offer a wide enough range of products in order to keep a consistent flow of income coming in.

The second type of seller is specialized.  Kind of like Victoria's Secret.  They sell one type of item.  They found a 'niche' of products that sell very well.  They have a ready set of customers who look for their product.  They can turn inventory quickly and therefore do not need a huge storage area to accommodate their business.  You see a lot of that in the mobile phone and accessories categories.  Some people sell cases while others sell power adapters.  They typically sell a product they are familiar with and knowledgeable about.

Neither approach is better than the other.  It can work for any seller.  The difference comes in with how you prefer to run your business.  If you are new and not sure what to sell, then the Walmart approach may be the best way to start.  It allows you to test several types of products before settling on a niche item.  Of course there are those sellers who love the treasure hunt and will never be a niche seller.  I was this type of seller for many years.  I was always on the hunt for the next treasure.  I would find a hot seller and ride it until it cooled down, then pick another.  All the while I just listed other stuff I thought might sell.

The point of all of this is to help you figure out what type of seller you want to be.  Know the pros and cons of each type and jump feet first into selling.  Don't sit back and wait for the perfect product to land in your lap.  You may wind up waiting your life away.  Start listing items and you may just end up finding a real gem hiding in the array of products you are listing!