| I love these one word collectible categories, like | | | | bundles of one product type. There's another great |
| 'Games', because that one word often covers a | | | | benefit of specialising at offline auction sales as |
| multitude of high profit items, such as board games, | | | | opposed to buying across a broad range of items. |
| playing card games, computer games, classic board | | | | Most auctions group 'like' items together, such as |
| games, pinball games, and many more. So many | | | | stamps, postcards, games, and will sell 'same item' lots |
| categories means you'll never run out of games to buy | | | | consecutively rather than spread similar items |
| and sell, even if you specialize within your niche and | | | | throughout the day. Specialising in one product type |
| target such as classic board games or exclusively | | | | means you'll rarely spend all day in a cold dingy auction |
| wooden items, and also helps you develop a popular | | | | room waiting for your lots to appear, starting number |
| following on eBay as THE place to buy games. | | | | one at 9 am, lot 54 at 10 am, lot 371 at 2pm and lots |
| Benefits of specialising in one product type with such | | | | 500 and higher will appear sometime late at night. This |
| plentiful sub-categories include: | | | | also means part-time eBayers can take a few hours |
| * You can create an eBay user ID and Shop Name | | | | from work, on flexible working time, for example, to bid |
| that reflects exactly what you sell and this helps | | | | on their grouped lots, instead of sometimes several |
| attract buyers on and off eBay. In eBay's Shop pages | | | | days to bid on one or two items spread over multi-day |
| potential buyers can key in words to describe a | | | | auctions. |
| product, in this example 'Game' will be commonly used, | | | | As for price, these recent eBay listings will show how |
| in which case all shops stocking games will appear in | | | | high game bidders might actually go for something that |
| the return listings, with or without 'game' in their User ID | | | | cost you comparatively little: |
| or Shop name. But your details will also appear every | | | | * A two sided 19th century board game with question |
| time someone searches shop names with the | | | | and answer on one side and a fortune telling game on |
| keyword 'Game' if your ID is 'gamesman' and your | | | | the other, went for $6750 at an eBay 'Live' auction. |
| shop name is 'Game Seller'. But you'll be missed out | | | | Live Auctions, on and off the Internet, often generate |
| altogether when someone keys 'Game' into the shop | | | | far higher prices than traditional 3, 5, 7, and nine day |
| search box and not the product box where, for | | | | eBay auctions, so I've planned a special article about |
| example, your ID is 'buyfromus' and your shop name is | | | | Live Auctions for a forthcoming newsletter. |
| 'Get It All Here'. | | | | * A game of 'Merry Christmas' manufactured by |
| * Potential buyers for one game you list will often | | | | Parker Bros in 1898 went for $6,000 and attracted 25 |
| check your other items and, seeing that you specialise | | | | bids. |
| in games, they'll bookmark or add you to their | | | | * A Santa Claus Marble game, the kind where players |
| 'Favourite Sellers' list and call back regularly to view | | | | skilfully manoeuvre tiny balls into pre-drilled holes, |
| your stock. | | | | fetched $1600 |
| * Every person buying games from you on eBay can | | | | * An early 20th century Wood Ivory MOP Chess |
| be targeted with more offers outside of eBay, even | | | | Backgammon Game Table made $862 |
| for products that don't belong to you. You can not | | | | Notice the use of the acronym, MOP, in the last entry, |
| conspicuously market other people's products as an | | | | denoting Mother of Pearl, which many non-collectors |
| affiliate on eBay but you can promote affiliate | | | | might miss, but all vintage games collectors will |
| products after that first initial eBay sale. You can do | | | | understand. Using 'MOP' instead of 'Mother of Pearl' |
| this by email, by attracting people to your affiliate web | | | | saved lots of title space but you must use acronyms |
| site, or by including information about other people's | | | | and abbreviations very carefully and only if those |
| products inside the box containing whatever your | | | | terms are commonly used and understood by potential |
| customer purchased on eBay. See 'Games as Back | | | | bidders on your product type. Check usage by |
| End Sellers' later for an easy way to do this without | | | | studying present and past auctions for your product, |
| ever creating a web site of your own and still it will | | | | compare any with abbreviations that ended without |
| look as though you have thousands of great products, | | | | bids against those that fetched record prices. Check |
| in this case games, to interest your buyers. | | | | out main sellers of your product type, see if they use |
| * Specialising gives stronger buying power at auction | | | | particular contractions, you might generally trust their |
| and you will find non-specialists reluctant to buy large | | | | judgement. |