Myth # 49: You can have only one eBay selling account.
The most common reason for using different selling accounts is to make it easier to establish a reputation and identity in a particular category that you favor. Perhaps you hawk Hummel figurines, baseball cards, computer textbooks, automotive accessories, and vintage clothing. You sell enough in each of these categories that you hope to build up a following of regular buyers who track your auctions and bid on the items they like. Why confuse the buyers looking for mudflaps with auctions for leisure suits? The most likely result is that, rather than wade through all of your auctions, buyers who specialize in one kind of purchase will simply delete you from their My Favorite Sellers list (eBay currently allows buyers have up to 15 sellers on that elite listing.)
Of course, if you split your buyers among several accounts, you’ll also split your feedback among all those accounts, slowing your accumulation of those coveted positives on each ID. EBay counts each ID separately when determining PowerSeller status, as well, so using several accounts can bring each of them below the $1000 a month threshold, if that’s your goal. Later in this chapter I’m going to debunk a couple feedback and PowerSeller myths, proving that the dilution effect of several IDs isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all.
There are other reasons to use different IDs beyond the obvious. For example, I sell a few select commodity items using multiple accounts, and there are a number of advantages to doing it this way.
Gain visibility. Certainly, you can list up to 10 identical items under one ID, but is that a good idea? Anyone browsing through the auction pages is unlikely to look at more than one of your me-too auctions. I’ve had good luck listing a few items under one ID, mixing up the titles and descriptions a little, and then listing a few more completely different auctions for essentially the same thing under an alternate ID, and let buyers choose the ones that attract them the most.
Test market concepts. Perhaps you have a particular type of item that’s selling well, but you’d like to experiment with a new marketing idea. Maybe you’d like to try a “two-for-one” promotion, or see if a lower (or higher) price might generate more sales. Yet, you don’t want to tamper with your current auctions, and potentially confuse your buyers. Use a second ID to test out your ideas.
I’ve done this to see what kind of “attitudes” appeal to buyers the most. The auctions I post under one ID take a semi-corporate approach, making it sound like I am the direct importer of a particular item (which is true) and that the seller (me) is a formal organization with lots of customer service staff to speed the item on its way to the buyer.
That system worked well for a year, and then I decided to see how a less formal approach would work for this particular item. I peppered my auctions with chatty phrases like, “When I discovered this converter, I was amazed at how well it worked. Then my friends all wanted one for themselves, and I knew I was onto something. I decided to sell them on eBay.” This particular approach has been used successfully by yuppie catalogs for years. I didn’t want to become J. Peterman, or even Elaine Benes, but I was interested in finding out if this tack would work on eBay. Using multiple accounts let me experiment.
Compete against yourself. Perhaps you have a couple other sellers offering something similar to what you’re selling, so you’re only one of three possible sources your buyers can turn to. Why not compete against yourself with a second ID and improve your odds? All else being equal, it could be argued that, with three sellers in the market and a one-in-three chance of making the sale, it’s better to add an ID, make it four sellers and improve your chances to two-in-four.
In other situations, you might find that there’s a lower cost alternative to what you’re selling. If so, why not offer that yourself? Many years ago, a buddy of mine was the first to offer what became known as the “Mood Ring,” a liquid-crystal based gadget that detected body heat and supposedly changed colors to correspond to your moods. He didn’t have the market to himself for very long (particularly after the Wall Street Journal featured him on the front page), and lamented the lost sales to cheap knockoffs. So, when he introduced his next product, a plant-watering device known as “Mr. Spritzer” that was sold nationwide in better department stores and on television, he immediately arranged with an alternate source for a less expensive version and knocked off himself, so to speak.
I do exactly the same thing on eBay with an electronic widget I offer. I sell a ton of the gold-plated version for $9.95 under my “prestige” ID, but also offer a cheaper, nickel-plated version under a second ID for $6.95 or even less. Many people prefer the imagined improved electrical performance of the gold-plated version, while others want to save money and get the nickel-plated model. By using two IDs, I don’t degrade my prestige ID’s image, but also can make extra sales to those who wouldn’t have paid the higher price for the gold version. My tests have shown I’m not cannibalizing any sales by offering both. Because my gold widget costs me 75 cents and the nickel-plated version costs 45 cents, I make money either way.
Unload junk. If you want to sell off stuff that doesn’t sell under your “main” eBay ID, you can sometimes dump it successfully with a secondary ID, without risking your reputation.
Let’s face it. Sometimes you’re stuck with things that are difficult to sell. Perhaps you have odd lots of merchandise that is seriously used, untested, or otherwise not up to your usual standards. You don’t want to dump it in the trash, because someone always has a use for these things and will pay something for them. Before AOL began papering the countryside with sign-up CDs, I once sold a 100-disk lot of “Ruined CDs,” absolutely guaranteed to be non-working, for use as coasters, high-tech scarecrows, or for art projects. As long as your item is worth your time to list, package, and ship, you can probably sell it on eBay.
Unfortunately, even if you list your item as non-functioning, defective, or as-is, you still might get a buyer who expected something more. You don’t want to risk getting a negative feedback, so you sell the item under a throw-away ID and take the consequences. Or, you sell high-quality refurbished electronic equipment under one ID and don’t want to cheapen that account’s reputation with bargain-basement products. An extra ID is just the ticket for unloading your surplus.