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How to Find the Ultimate Niche

When eBay first started, it was predominately used to sell collectibles including sports cards, comics, toys and beanie babies. As the site expanded however, more expensive collectibles and antiques began to be sold. Within Skipper doll very short time consumer goods started showing up. Most of these, at first, were used or overstock items and "as seen on TV" items. During these first two years, nearly every seller on eBay was working in a narrow product area or a niche.

So what makes a niche market? A category is not a niche. so for example, if you sell all kinds of toys, you are a toy vendor. However, if you only sell action figures, then this is a niche. It used to be that if you only sold digital cameras that this would be considered a niche, but today the digital camera market on eBay is so large that you would have to sell only one brand of cameras, such as Sony, Casio, Canon or Nikon, to be considered a niche in the camera market.

The Benefits of Selling in a Niche Market

The two biggest benefits of niche marketing are sourcing, and selling. Let's take a look at sourcing first. The more time you spend in a market or product category you will eventually learn all the sources of supply for that market. In other words the more you know about EC Comics product the better you will be able to buy it. When you decide to specialize in a niche of any kind the first thing you want to do is become expert in that area. Gross Out Gang and read everything you can about it. Study the history of the product. Get to know the companies that manufacturer the product and their distributors. The more you know the better you will be able to buy.

The other benefit of niche marketing is selling. The very fact that you are selling in a narrow market means that for one, there will be less competition and therefore you can command higher profit margins. The other factor is that people prefer to buy from someone who is knowledgeable in their field. As an expert or specialist in your niche, you will be able to answer any question with authority, detail, and confidence so that the bidder who asked the question will also be extremely confident when they bid that you really do know what you're talking about, and aren't about to scam them. Along with this, being a specialist of your field allows you to make your item descriptions stand out, and have more accurate detail over someone who does not. This will give any potential bidder more confidence, and most likely make them bid more.

Finding The Right Niche

When I look for a niche, the first thing I ask myself is "what am I interested in?" Face it, work is a whole lot more fun when you're doing something you're interested in. So in order to find the niche that's right for you, start off by looking at any hobbies you may have, think about the different things that you're interested in, and if you're not sure if something could actually be a niche, look it up! It only takes a few minutes to go on eBay and look up what you're interested in and see if it is a good niche for you to sell in. Just about every category on eBay has a sub-category, and many of them are small enough to be qualified as a niche. The key to finding a great niche is that it there is enough demand to generate sales, and that it is not too overcrowded by other sellers.

When you find a potential niche

If you find a niche that you may be interested in, ask yourself some of these questions before deciding to focus on it, or before looking for inventory to sell:

Is this niche large enough to run a sustainable business?
Do you have or can you obtain the knowledge and expertise to work this niche?
Are you interested in the niche?
Is the competitive situation in this niche manageable?
Do you have a reliable and cost-effective source of supply for the goods to supply your niche market?
Are the margins available to your for these products large enough to run a sustainable business?
Can the niche be expanded or are there complimentary products you can cross-sell and up-sell?

Remember, in order to be successful in a niche you do not necessarily have to "own" it. However, it wont hurt you to be one of the few Adventure Comics sellers in that particular field. Like anything else in this business, finding a niche will take some research, but once you find a good one, the possibilities are endless. Good Luck

About the author: Ian Orzel is an accomplished eBay seller and internet marketer, focusing on innovative and unique techniques for building a successful home-based business on eBay. To contact Ian about info on useful products, information or to subscribe to his weekly newsletter, you can email him at ieorzel@oakland.edu

posted by biibj @ 6:03 AM