If you’re not putting your items “on sale” when selling on eBay – then you’re leaving a wad of cash on the table for your competition to scoop up. Here’s why…..

I just wrapped up a year long case study where I tested putting items “on sale” -vs- “no sale” at all.

Now the reason why I tested this is simply because the “crowd” says that putting your items “on sale” every day will…..

• Cause you to make less money because your prices will now be lower
• Cause you to lose “buyer loyalty” from having “sales” repeat every day
• Cause your market to become “numb” or “blind” to your “sales” after seeing you have them all the time
• Cause you to lose “buyer trust” because shoppers know that “sales” are only a marketing tactic to get people to spend money

And to top that list off…..

The #1 reason the crowd said that putting your items “on sale” doesn’t work is because “sales” are DEAD. They’ve been around forever and are ineffective because people are tired of them.

Hmmmmm?

Now, if you’ve been on my list or have read my posts for any length of time, then you know that I test like crazy because “following the crowd” is like committing suicide when selling on eBay!

And it’s a good thing that I don’t like following the crowd either because these results were shocking!

Here’s the inside scoop of how it went down……

I took two of our businesses and tested them side by side for 12 months.

Both businesses….

• Are in the exact same market
• Sell the exact same product
• Have the exact same manufacture
• Are well established 4 year old businesses
• Have similar feedback scores and DSR ratings
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual traffic (1,823,425 to 1,824,914) *based on a 4 year average
  
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual sales volume (1263 units to 1287 units) *based on a 4 year average
• Have nearly the same amount of *annual gross sales ($658,023 to $670,527) *based on a 4 year average
  

Now, to keep the playing field level, I took “Business B” and raised the price so that when it’s “on sale”, both businesses would have the exact same retail price. And then I put those items “on sale” throughout the next 12 months.

That’s it – nothing else was done or changed to either business.

SIDE NOTE: (I know that I may have just rattled a few cages because some people think that “raising your prices” is somehow unfair, lying, cheating or ripping people off. The truth is, I did this for two reasons. First, to keep a level playing field and to show folks that you don’t have to lose money in order to put your items “on sale”. Second, to really emphasis again that price is always built around the “Total Value” of your ENTIRE offer – NOT the product alone. And because we already OVER deliver tremendous VALUE to our customers – raising the price was still a “no brainier” to them. Heck, from our test results below – we could have easily charged another 15% on top of that and they would have still lined up to buy from us.)

Here are the results…….

As you can see, both businesses were off just a bit in their “annual traffic” compared to their *4 year averages. But “Business B” still sold 528 more units than “Business A” from just putting our items “on sale” which resulted in us making an additional $275,088 in gross sales.

And that’s not all either…..

At no point in my year long testing did I experience ANY of the following:

• Making less money because I put my items “on sale” (nope, I raised my prices – so I didn’t lose any money and actually, I made more money because I had more sales)
  
• Lose “buyer loyalty” from having “sales” repeated every day (nope, it actually did the opposite and shot my “buyer loyalty” up with more repeat buyers)
  
• Cause buyers to become “numb” or “blind” to my on going daily “sales” (nope, remember – my annual sales volume went up, not down)
  
• Lose “buyer trust” because I participate in that so called marketing tactic of putting my items “on sale” (nope, they actually thanked me and referred more of their friends and family members to buy from me)
  

So why did this work?

It’s simple…..  regardless of what the “crowd” says – people LOVE “sales”!

 

CONCLUSION:

“Sales” aren’t dead by any stretch of the imagination (nor will they ever be). If you’re not currently putting your items “on sale” when selling on eBay – you may want to.

Have a super great week selling on eBay!

Blessings,
Duane Hope

 

P.S. I collected a lot of data from this case study such as…..

• What % (5%, 8%, 10%, 13%, 15%, etc., etc.) causes more sales than others – (this was mind blowing because it wasn’t the higher %)
• What three words you must have in your listings to skyrocket your sales when your items are “on sale”
• Best times to start and end a sale  – (this went totally against the grain)
• A cool trick when using the “markdown manager” that allows you to have a “sale” every day
  
• The 3 “Psychological Triggers” during a “sale” that instantly mesmerizes your market and seduces them to buy your products.
• How long a “sale” should last for maximum sales
• Plus a whole lot more….
  

If you’re interested and want to know this stuff – then post me a comment below and let me know. If I get enough comments – I’ll take the time to put it together and post it here for you.

But if I don’t hear from you – then I’ll assume that you’re not interested and I’ll just move forward.