| It's true, there are benefits associated with becoming a | | | | THE place to go for products to satisfy their buying |
| PowerSeller and boasting that prestigious PowerSeller | | | | needs. The seller also gets to cut eBay listing and final |
| icon on your listings. The bigger you grow in the | | | | selling fees to the bone, by listing just a few items at |
| PowerSeller ranks, the greater those benefits become. | | | | auction or Buy It Now. Those few items generate |
| All PowerSellers have priority access to eBay staff to | | | | visitors from eBay's search engines who are then |
| ask questions and help solve problems. Gold | | | | directed to other items available inside the eBayer's |
| PowerSellers and above even have emergency | | | | shop where listing fees are incredibly low compared to |
| telephone access to eBay staff. | | | | those for auction listed items. |
| It may surprise you to learn these benefits are | | | | There's another reason why the world's biggest sellers |
| available to anyone, if you know where to look. | | | | may never qualify to become PowerSellers, which |
| More about this later, let me tell you why some of the | | | | also explains why most don't want to qualify anyway. |
| world's top eBayers are not and never want to be | | | | It's because many of them have lots of eBay |
| PowerSellers. Some don't actually qualify, even if they | | | | accounts, each catering to a specific niche audience, |
| sell way more product each month than the world's | | | | where cumulative sales are sometimes low as often |
| top eBayer. That's because to qualify as a | | | | happens in tight niche markets. But across several |
| PowerSeller you must meet a specific level of product | | | | eBay accounts profits can be enormous. |
| sales or profits over a three month period in one eBay | | | | How to obtain many of those benefits normally |
| account. | | | | reserved for major PowerSellers, such as emergency |
| 'In one eBay account' are the operative words here, | | | | telephone support? Well it's only in the UK that you |
| because most eBay sellers actually do have just one | | | | can't speak directly to eBay staff and must wait in line |
| eBay account, into which they commit everything from | | | | for email support if you are not a PowerSeller. But go |
| household castoffs to surplus collectibles, last | | | | to ebay.com, click on 'Live Help' right side of the home |
| weekend's boot sale buys, dropshipped items, and | | | | page, give your eBay ID, type out your question, and |
| much more. In such cases, the key to becoming a | | | | wait for an eBay agent to reply online. It can take ten |
| PowerSeller (in the UK) is simply to sell a minimum | | | | minutes or more to gain access to an eBay |
| £750 worth of stock each month or 100 items | | | | representative, but it's well worth the wait if your |
| (Bronze membership) to £95,000 of sales or | | | | problem is urgent or worrying. It's simple too, all you do |
| 5,000 products for Titanium membership. | | | | is key in your question online, the representative |
| There is a big disadvantage to this 'throw it all in the | | | | answers online, you reply, they reply, and so the |
| pot' principle, and it's one of never being able to | | | | process continues until your question is answered. |
| specialise or grow a niche market for your eBay | | | | Okay, it's not exactly the same as talking over the |
| business. Niche marketing is a powerful concept and | | | | phone to an eBay representative; it's actually much |
| on eBay you'll see sellers specialising in one specific | | | | better because you can read and check questions |
| product type and generating thousands of sales each | | | | asked and answers given before bidding goodbye to |
| month from just a few products. This is because their | | | | your eBay guide. And you can print out your findings |
| customers come to recognise niche eBay sellers as | | | | for future reference. How good is that? |