I hope you had a great holiday selling season online, and with the new year right around the corner, what follows are some tips for increasing your eBay presence even more in 2008.
Use research tools like Terapeak.com, Hammertap.com and EverySeller Research (Everyseller.com) to fine tune strategies and make decisions that will help grow sales and profitability.
Your name matters so make it easy to spell, memorable and consistent. If your user ID is dlevitt12345678, your eBay store is Puppy Loves Mommy, and you thank people for shopping from Debbie's House of Stuff, you've just greatly increased the chances that your buyer will tell friends he/she got it from "some guy on eBay." Nobody's going to remember your name. If they do remember “Puppy Loves Mommy,” and then they do eBay’s “search by seller” for that term, they won’t find you: “Search by seller” looks for user IDs, and in this example, your store name isn’t your user ID. Pick one name, don't put in any special characters or numbers, make it spelled the way it sounds, and make it all match. Use the same user ID as your store name and as your matching dot com. That way, you have one consistent brand name that you can work towards promoting.
Before you design or redesign your eBay store, have your eBay-listing template designed or redesigned. This is where sale are made. Shoppers can choose to buy or choose to reject your item without ever seeing your store. Therefore, the best investment is the one made in how the listing itself will present your item and your company image.
If it doesn't enhance the shopping experience and drive people towards buying, get rid of it! This goes for your store and your listings. Consider removing things like Flash animations that may just be for show, side columns of links that may take people away from item(s) and galleries. Remember that on eBay, your shopper probably knew what they wanted. The shopper searched, and found you among your competitors. That person chose to look at your individual item. What's the No.1 thing you want that person to do on your individual item page? Click on a category and leave? Click on another item and leave? Watch a Flash animation of your logo? We suggest doing everything you can to convert that shopper to a buyer, especially a buyer of the item he or she was driven to find in the first place!
First impressions count. Company image counts! How your listing is designed and laid out can make a real difference. Make sure that your eBay listings are designed for your target audience. Your shopper will decide within a couple of seconds if he/she wants to stay on your listing or check out your competitor.
Try some of these tips for 2008, and look for my monthly column on eBay and online selling here in Practical eCommerce.
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This article is filed under Marketing & Revenue Growth and has the following keyword tags: eBay.
7 Comments
Legacy User says:
Great article, but I'm afraid the article falls victim to the same sort of amateurish style that the author warns against for eBay sellers. I'd suggest the copy editor pick "he" or "she" and drop the "he/she". Good lord, copy editors are rolling over in their graves at all the he/she instances in there. But seriously, it is a great article. Just needs a little closer editing.
-- tracy
Legacy User says:
After selling on ebay for years (we're powersellers), we're moving away from it. The problem is that you need to revamp your approaches based on eBay management's ever changing schemes and ever increasing fees.
We'll keep a presence there, but certainly it won't be the same.
-- Juli B.
Legacy User says:
I'm a powerseller as well, but part of running a successful business is adjusting to the environment. I own a store, sell on eBay and have a website. Yes, eBay fees went up a bit over the last few years but they are still a relative bargain compared to internet advertising we have to pay for to advertise our website. eBay makes it EXTREMELY easy to sell. Yes, you pay a lot of money, but if you do it right you should make a lot of money too. Stop focusing on what you pay out and instead focus on how to bring more in. Isn't that what matters anyway?
-- Steve T
Legacy User says:
I gave up on ebay for selling my products that I sell on my site. They are just too greedy. After listing fees, final value fees, CC processor fees, and store fees, they were just getting too much of the pie. I've found I get better bang for my buck by making Product specific Google ads that generate when customers are looking for that specific product. Any clicks on those ads are a guarantee they are looking for what I am selling. And I don't pay until they click! http://www.laminerals.com
-- lorraine P.
Legacy User says:
I have been selling on eBay since 2002 and I finally opened a store a few years ago. I agree with her statement about the name of your store. I have found that getting traffic to my store is one of the keys for sales and advertising is essential. I have found great free advertising places and even had a website built for this purpose. This site is not only for eBay items but for My Space pages, Squidoo, You Tube, blogs and more. Getting your name out there has certainly helped me.. If you would like to check out my site go to www.magieplace.info inspired by www.powersellingmom.com
Happy New Year Magiesplace.net
-- Cheryl
Legacy User says:
I agree with some of the comments above. I only smile when I hear all the whining about eBay fees and PayPal woes. If it's too much, please - by all means get out! I'd love to have your customers!
eBay is an incredible opportunity! I've made my full-time living on eBay for over 7 years now. I've seen you come and go and my profits have wavered only a bit. The strong survive. Those that can adapt and change.
Mr. Blue from www.AuctionSelling101.com
-- Mr. Blue
Legacy User says:
I think that eBay does charge too much. As Mr. Blue said, only the strong survive, those that cant adapt to change, wont. A change is coming. eBay will start feeling the pressure as many other websites like oo and amazon start taking their users. We have to draw a line somewhere. Good on everyone who is selling on their own sites. I also think that there will be many new ecommerce platforms emerging. Platforms that work differently to eBay and make it easier for buyers and sellers. I came across offerme.com.au the other day. Totally new way of trading. These will crop up more and more. eBay might start feeling some pressure to become somewhat reasonable.
-- Chelsea
