The current buzz in the massage industry is all about Ebay. While some people are promoting the merits of selling gift certificates on Ebay, I’m about to tell you why I strongly disagree with this massage marketing tactic.

In this article, I will share with you the disadvantages and advantages of selling massage gift certificates on Ebay. I will then conclude with advise for those who are selling on Ebay or want to give Ebay a try.

First, let me start with the disadvantages of selling massage gift certificates on Ebay:

#1) Ebay is the Online Version of a Flea Market

If you’ve never checked out Ebay, it’s definitely an extremely popular place to shop. In fact, Ebay is in the top 10 most visited websites on the Internet.

You can find tons of products and services, both new and used. A good friend of mine refers to Ebay as “an online flea market where you can find some great deals.”

It has been my experience, both buying and selling on Ebay that the products, which frequently get the most attention, start with dirt-cheap prices. This leads into my second disadvantage.

#2) People Go Shopping On Ebay When They Are Looking For Bargains.

Some people will browse Ebay, just looking for items, which they may decide to purchase on the spur of the moment. Other people go there, looking for a specific item. Here’s the one characteristic that every Ebay shopper shares: they are looking for a bargain.

Pick any product or service and do a search on Ebay for it. It’s extremely rare that someone is selling it at the regular full price that you would pay off-line. And those merchants, who try to sell at full price, usually get little or no bidders.

The problem with selling your gift certificates at a deep discount or bargain price is this:

For every 1% discount you give, you need to sell 10% more just to make the same amount of money. If you are selling a $60 gift certificate for $30 on Ebay, you will need to sell twice as many $30 certificates to make the same amount of money you would elsewhere.

#3) Someone who will pay $20 for an hour massage gift certificate probably won’t pay $60 for the regularly priced massage appointment.

Since trying to sell a $60 gift certificate near regular price will draw few bidders, most massage therapists selling on Ebay, will list their gift certificates at a low starting price.

How low?

Here are two examples I found in a recent search:

• An opening bid of $3.00 for a $25 gift certificate
• An opening bid of $5.50 for a 90-minute gift certificate, with a ‘buy it now’ option for $60.

By selling at such a deep discount, you will probably draw two types of new clients:

• Someone with limited funds who can only afford to pay $20 for an hour massage.
• Someone who only wanted a bargain or is cheap.

Neither type of these new clients will pay your normal rates. The physical demands of performing massage therapy can be high. Many therapists can only safely do 3-4 hours of massage each day. Because of these limitations and the skill needed to perform the work professionally, our industry normally charges $50-150 per hour of massage to insure a normal daily income for the therapist.

Performing massages for $20 or less per hour is not the way to maintain this professional goal.

In both of the examples listed above, I did not contact either one of these sellers to see how many bidders they typically get. I can tell you that when I viewed their listings, neither one of them had gotten a bid and had more than one day to go on their auction. This leads into my next disadvantage.

#4) Ebay May Not Work For A Therapist Working In A Small Town

If your massage practice is located in a large city or busy metropolitan area, than Ebay might work for you. After all, the only people who will bid on or use your gift certificate will live near your massage practice.

In order to get the most money from your auction listing, you need as many people as possible to bid on your gift certificate and drive the price up.

Unfortunately, if you live in a small town or lightly populated area, you won’t have as many potential bidders. In fact, you may only get one or two bidders!

#5) You Hope Your Regular Price Paying Clients Don’t See Your Discounted Gift Certificates On Ebay.

Nothing will anger a client faster than to think you are overcharging them for their appointments. And a fast way to do this is to list a gift certificate for much less than they are currently paying, on Ebay.

Your regular massage clients pay the majority of what you earn each year. If anyone has earned a discount, it’s probably him or her.

Realistically, the only way you can avoid a potential confrontation is to list your gift certificate as a special introductory offer.

#6) To Get The Best Bang For Your Marketing Bucks; You Should Have A Website For Ebay Selling.

What do you do with anyone who looks at your auction listing but doesn’t bid? How about the people who don’t win your auction?

You’ve spent the money to market and try to get new clients. But if you don’t have a website, you don’t really have a way to follow-up effectively. And that means you lose one of the biggest ways to promote your massage business through Ebay.

One option is to contact them about signing up for your free email updates, letting them know when you are running any specials again. I’ll share more on this idea, a little later in this article.

#7) After you’re done paying fees for selling your discounted gift certificate, how much money will you have left?

Anytime you list an item to sell on Ebay, they charge a few dollars in fees. In addition, if the buyer pays you by credit card or Pay Pal (the most popular Ebay option), you pay some additional fees there too.

This isn’t so bad if you are making $40, $60, or $100 per sale.

But suppose you only get $10 for your gift certificate. Do you really want to pay $1-3 in fees, just to make a few extra dollars?

Now that I’ve covered the disadvantages of selling gift certificates on Ebay, let me give you the advantages.

1) You can sell a few gift certificates to get some new potential clients.

Every person who ever redeems a gift certificate has the potential to become a repeat or regular client. In my professional opinion, I believe it’s a long shot to happen (see disadvantage #3 above), but it is possible that you could find a regular client this way.

2) You can use Ebay to drive traffic to your website.

In Ebay, you could list your website in your ‘About Me’ description that is shown with your auction listing. Everyone who looks at your auction has the ability to go to your website, learn more about you, and even sign up for your free email newsletter. They can order gift certificates or retail products from your website directly.

If you decide you still want to try to sell massage gift certificates on Ebay, here a few additional pointers:

1. Stick to short massage gift certificates, like 30-minute table massage or 10-20 minute chair massage gift certificates. Then offer an option to upgrade to a longer appointment when they call to use their gift certificate.

2. Build an email mailing list from the traffic and buyers you get from Ebay.

3. Market to that email list repeatedly with educational articles and special offers.

About the author: Michael Humphreys is a nationally certified massage therapist and co-founder of HelpYourPractice.com