The tragedy of eBay is that all of your items do not sell all of the time. No matter what you do with your description, title, or pictures. Sometimes there is just no one searching for your exact auction, or not clicking on your perfectly good title.

There are several ways to combat this. Three great ways to sell more items on eBay is to get repeat customers, customer who respond to a mailing list, or first time bidders who buy multiple items. All of these people will help your business succeed, and there are some tricks to building a loyal customer base.

Getting Repeat Customers
Hopefully you have already branded your eBay business. Make a name for yourself that is distinguishable, and meaningful. The easiest way to get repeat customers is to sell consumable products. If you sell things like calling cards, printer ink, packaging tape, etc… it should be easy to get repeat business. All you would have to do is make a free business card at Vista Print with your business name and eBay ID on it, and put it in with every package you ship. The next time your customer needs a roll of packaging tape, they will (hopefully) look for your card and buy from a seller they can trust.

One way you can further increase the likelihood of a repeat customer through use of business card is to offer a discount (maybe 10%?) on their next purchase or an automatically reduced shipping charge.

Reward your customers by providing them with value and they will come back again and again !

Starting a Mailing List
With a Mailing list you will be able to reach out to as many potential bidders as you are able to get to sign up. They can be old customers, or just potential ones you have gotten to sign up. After they are on a mailing list, you can email them weekly telling them about the new inventory you posted, or sales that are happening, etc… This is a great way to remind your past and potential customers that you have something which they need to buy. “Is your ink toner running low?” Amazon.com does the same thing, reminding previous customers to buy books similar to ones they have purchased in the past. It is a good idea to copy the pros on this one.

A good way I have noticed to get people on a mailing list is to offer a discount (5-10%) on their first purchase if they join. Not only will this help your mailing list grow, but it will help create a bidding frenzy when more than one person bids on your auction.

Getting Bidders to Buy Multiple Items.
Another great way to increase sales is to tell your bidders , and create an easily accessible link, to check out your other auctions because you are offering discounted shipping rates (or expedited shipping) if the bidder buys more than one of your great items. Remember that you can pack up heaps in these Pre-Paid cardboard boxes from your Post Office (whether you are in the US, Australia, the UK…)
When thinking about offering discounts on your items it is important that you still make a profit for each item you sell, keep this into consideration. However, a preliminary discount that leads to a repeat customer is worth more than the time and money.

Good luck out there, and give me comments for any of your questions.