How Can a Newsletter help me on Ebay?

How can a newsletter help me on Ebay?

John from California writes,

Hey newsletterscott,

I am an ebay seller and sell video games and consoles used. I have been checking out some of your stuff on your facebook page and on twitter. But I really dont see how it can help me with my business. 

Thanks John

____________________________________________________________________________________

First John that is a great question. There are a number of great ways to utilize newsletters as an ebay seller. 

I believe that anyone should have a newsletter that is selling on ebay.  Why?

Here is the biggest reason.

 Customer retention and TCV. or what is called Total Customer Value.  I know a quite a few people who have tried to make a business work doing exactly what John is doing however.  On ebay in many categories the competition is stiff. Which brings down the profit in everything you sell.  Im not sure how seasoned John is here but alot of people on Ebay are amateurs  who are trying to make it big but dont have the skills and secrets that the pros do.

Here is a tip from the pros.  Most pros do what they call a marketing funnel.  What they do is offer a product for very little money. What this does and Ebay combined with paypal does an amazing job at this is it collects an email and their shipping address.  This way you now have the option to start sending a newsletter to your previous customers telling them of the new stuff they have in.

This accomplishes a number of things.  

1. You have just eliminated the competiton. How many ebays sellers like you are sending follow up sales letters to their mailbox? I doubt very many.
2. It allows you to send a newsletter that can do exactly what I am doing here. Answering questions that your customers may have about your product.  With some stuff on Ebay returns can get hairy.  What if you could settle it all offline.  You could inform and educate your customers by doing this.
3. It allows you to sell at a premium and who would not want to see that or even open you up to upsell customers on other services.