Articles. News. Information.

Category of Information, News & Articles


eBay: What Should I Sell?


There is an art to picking profitable products. It's not just what you want to sell but rather what will sell. Unless you pick a product in demand in the marketplace, you will fail. A fundamental principle of the capitalist system is "supply and demand". It represents a delicate balancing act between "what people want" and how much of "it" is available.

Every Christmas, we see one toy that everyone wants. One year is "talking Elmo" and the next year it's something else. But, it never fails to occur. Because everyone wants "it", so "it" is in high demand. If the supply of the product isn't sufficient to meet the customer demand, prices soar, as do profits for the people selling them.

You could hope you pick one of those products and make a lot of money in one season, or you can be smart and have a profitable business all year round. How? Understand trends in our society and how they help you predict the products which are or will be in demand, now and in the future.

Current Trends In American Society

By reading and watching current news, we should be able to spot trends. These trends will have an impact upon people and therefore, the products they need or want. For instance, some current trends in the United States are as follows:

· Americans are fatter than prior generations (particularly children)

· Baby Boomers (a very large potential market) are getting older. Many are in the 50s or 60s.

· More and more people purchase online from the security and comfort of their own home

· Americans are more security conscious since 9/11

· Travel by car or recreational vehicle is up over previous years

· Diabetes is making major inroads into the general population

These are just some of the trends impacting our culture now. We need to take those identified trends and make some assumptions about them. With these assumptions come product decisions, profitable product decisions.

Using a Trend to Pick Profitable Products

Let's choose the Baby Boomer trends upon which to focus. We know that the Baby Boomer Generation represents a large, and very wealth, segment of the current American society. If we choose to focus upon this group of consumers, we know we have a large potential audience. More importantly, we know we have an audience who can pay.

Determining the products we will offer starts with making some assumptions about our targeted market. What does that mean for the Baby Boomers? We need to take what we know about that market segment and then make some assumption based upon that knowledge. Let's try.

What We Know: What We Can Assume:

We know they are getting older. We can assume they don't like that. We know they are fatter than prior We can assume they don't like that generations. and want to do something about it.

Let's just look at those two trends and how they help us choose products. If this generation is fatter than the last generation, we can assume larger size clothes are needed right now. Is that true? At eBay, plus size women's clothing sold for a total of $90,903.37 in the last 30 days! There's a profitable product selection for the present.

If we assume they are fatter and don't like it, they must want to do something about it. What might they do? Exercise or diet. What does this mean for possible products? Exercise equipment or diet pills. Is this true? At eBay, exercise equipment sold for a total of $1,125,144.50 in the last 30 days and weight loss pills sold a total of $130,795.34 in the last 30 days! Two more profitable, "in-demand", products at eBay, right now.

Choosing the right product for a profitable business does not have to be difficult. Just follow the four easy steps; analyze, assume, test, and choose. You simply have to read and watch the world. Look at leading news articles and magazine stories. What appears to be uppermost in the minds of potential consumers? What assumptions can you make about the trend? What product(s) does that translate to? Sell that product and you will earn money. Continue to follow those four steps and you will be profitable for a long time.

Michele Schermerhorn has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (http://www.obinstitute.com). Online Business Institute Inc. exists to "Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time". They run regularly scheduled free online seminars.


MORE RESOURCES:

The Market Oracle

Treasurys down after $30B auction
CNNMoney.com - 9 hours ago
By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Treasury prices fell Wednesday - after a record $30 billion auction of ...
US Treasuries Decline Before Record $30 Billion Debt Auction Bloomberg
Weak Jobs Report Lifts Treasurys Wall Street Journal
TREASURIES-Longer bonds fall on auctions, issuance fears Reuters
EasyBourse.com - CNNMoney.com
all 375 news articles


Record UK Gilt Sales Raise Risk of Auction Failure
Bloomberg - 18 hours ago
7 (Bloomberg) -- Britain may overwhelm bond investors with a record number of quarterly debt sales, risking the first failed auctions since 2002 as the ...
Fears over UK gilts going unsold First Post
all 3 news articles


CEP News

German Bond Auction Fails to Attract Enough Demand
Bloomberg - 12 hours ago
“I would call this a failed auction,” said David Keeble, head of fixed-income strategy in London at Calyon, the investment-banking unit of France’s Credit ...
Investors shun auction of German Bunds Independent
Investors shun German bond auction Financial Times
German Bund Futures Extend Early-Morning Losses on Dismal Auction CEP News
all 15 news articles


Japan’s 10-Year Bonds Fall; Surge in Sales Cools Auction Demand
Bloomberg - 16 minutes ago
The sale drew bids worth 2.33 times the amount offered, compared with a so-called bid-to-cover ratio of 2.9 times at the previous auction last month. ...


BBC News

Japanese 30-Year Bonds Decline as Dealers Prepare for Auction
Bloomberg - 22 hours ago
7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s 30-year government bonds fell for a second day on speculation dealers reduced holdings of debt in preparation for an auction of 1.9 ...
Japan 10-Year Bonds Fall as Stock Gains Reduce Demand for Debt Bloomberg
Japan Bond Futures Fall as Stock Gains Reduce Demand for Debt Bloomberg
Japanese 10-Year Bonds Fall a 2nd Day as Stock Gains Sap Demand Bloomberg
all 601 news articles


ABT: Mint Lionel #624 C&O Switcher/Brick OB+
Auction Central News, NY - 1 hour ago
TIME: This Auction begins at 7:30 pm Eastern Standard Time on Monday, January 19, 2009. It will be completed prior to midnight on that date. ...


Sydney Morning Herald

Real estate power broker dead of apparent suicide
CNN International - 10 hours ago
Good was the chairman and chief executive officer of Sheldon Good & Co., a major US real estate auction company. The death comes amid great turmoil in the ...
Real-Estate Executive Found Dead in Apparent Suicide Wall Street Journal
Chairman and CEO dies in apparent suicide REjournals.com
Real-estate tycoon found dead in car The Courier News
Daily Contributor - Straits Times
all 50 news articles


Missoula Art Museum to Host 37th Benefit Art Auction Exhibition
Art Daily - 2 hours ago
Missoula Art Museum will host the 37th Benefit Art Auction. This important benefit auction – Missoula’s longest running – is critical for MAM to continue ...


NZ Herald Dunedin Metro

Suppliers call for review of auction system
Otago Daily Times, New Zealand - 14 hours ago
By Neal Wallace on Thu, 8 Jan 2009 Fonterra suppliers are calling for an independent review of the company's Internet auction system after prices for whole ...
Farmers hit out at Fonterra The Press
World Milk Prices Continue to Decline - NZ's Fonterra FLEXNEWS
Milk powder prices curdle in crisis The Australian
NZ Herald Dunedin Metro
all 60 news articles


FACTBOX-The Fed's evolving liquidity toolkit
Reuters - 6 hours ago
Those auctions will continue until at least April 30, 2009. AUCTION OF TERM SECURITIES LENDING FACILITY OPTIONS: The Fed authorized the New York Fed to ...

Auctions - Google News

Home | Sitemap
© 2006 eInfoJunction.com Homepage | Web Directory | Article Directory