- Trick #61: Brand Your BusinessAnd Market It
- Trick #62: Link to Your Other Listings
- Trick #63: Set Up Product Cross-Promotions
- Trick #64: Encourage Add-On Sales
- Trick #65: Optimize Your Listings for Search
- Trick #66: Create an Email Mailing List
- Trick #67: Gain Exposure by Writing Reviews and Guides
- Trick #68: Use Google AdWords
- Trick #69: Feed Your Store Listings to Google Product Search
- Trick #70: Promote Your eBay Listings in the Real World
- eBay Business Profile: Balkowitsch Enterprises, Inc.
- A Rags to Riches Story
- How to Grow a Business
- Managing the Business
- Selling Strategies
- Keys to Success
Keys to Success
What has made Balkowitsch Enterprises so successful? Shane responds that it's important to "Be honest, deliver the product that is mentioned, and do your best with customer service."
He has this advice for new sellers:
"Start small, do your research, do not get yourself into a large amount of product that you will end up giving away down the road. It is not an easy proposition and we have evolved over eight years to get where we are. Our knowledge and trade secrets would be priceless."
More specifically, Shane recommends that sellers "always let the buyer know who you are—phone number, address, contact information. The biggest pitfall with eBay is that eBay has allowed people to be anonymous, which is the main reason they have so much fraud. If everyone had to tell everyone who they were, eBay would be much better for it."
Shane also notes that selling on eBay has gotten harder over time. "Profit margins are very low on some items because there are so many sellers trying to get a piece of the pie. Many of these sellers have no business sense and they will give items away and profits are not something that they worry about. It is a big problem."
That said, Shane has been able to overcome these and other obstacles to create a large and profitable online business. Shane says he was driven by "a determined willpower to never work for anyone else again. My entire family, including my children, wife, brothers, mother, and extended family all rely solely on our company and what we are able to do."
Shane and Sharon have succeeded in building a business that can more than support their family. Balkowitsch Enterprises is a true American success story, and it all started with three little eBay listings.