One of the things that saddens me is the fact that a lot of eBay sellers tend to almost shut up shop during the summer holidays – and yes a side note here it is not only eBay sellers it is sellers in general both off line and on line. Why? Well their mind set is often, well schools are out, people are away and this means we will not sell any thing. Well I have something to say about that grow up and do not be so stupid. Sorry if that offend some people, but it is so true.

Now Ok some niches may be a bit slower, but these are few and far between and the ones it does effect the sellers in those niches are often prepared and sell or market other items, or sell enough throughout the rest of the year and they are able to survive. But the article is all about how to sell even though the world is on holiday. But before we get into the main meat of the article lets look at a few pointers.

• Yes it may be summer holidays and schools out where you are, but we are selling to a world wide audience – Yes it is winter in some countries.
• Schools may be out where you live, but else where even in the same country they may be just going back to school or still at school.
• Another fact that people tend to forget is not everyone goes away at the same time, and horror or horrors some people never go on holiday at all.

The above are just a few facts that us online sellers tend to forget, the fact that we are selling to the world.

So how do you sell more items in the summer?

• The first one, will make you all think I have gone mad, you need to list more. Honest it is true, the more you list the more you will sell. But also use this “quiet time” to start to list the Christmas and Holiday items you have in stock. Get the items out in front of your customers. Let them get a taste of what you will be selling in the coming weeks and months. Also list all those items you have been meaning to list but have be too busy to list.
• Always answer your customers emails promptly. It is good practice to answer your customers questions within a few hours of them coming, if possible sooner than that.
• Fine tune parts of your listings, there may have been some areas that you have been wanting to do, but time was not there. Do these tweaks now, well before the big buying season starts.
• Start to list those Halloween items and Thanksgiving items, people will be buying them any time now, and if you have yours up and running now, guess where people will buy from? Yes you, as you are the one who is prepared and has items ready to go.

But the main thing is have fun and list items everyday, do not cut back on your listings and guess what, soon you will see your sales increasing and when people say, where your sales down again this year like mine, and with a smile on your face you can say no, they were up and I had the best summer selling season ever.

Just go and do it.

Andrew Milburn Is An eBay Consultant Based In Lichfield Staffordshire