As we all know, eBay is one of the top retail platforms in the world, and its traffic is no worse than Amazon. According to incomplete statistics, eBay has 167 million users, while Amazon has 87 million users. However, many novice sellers tend to only consider Amazon when investing, and ignore the advantages of eBay. This article will explain in detail how to successfully run a business on eBay.
1. Create a reputable and rated account
Novice sellers often make less money than experienced sellers, even if they sell exactly the same items as others on eBay. eBay buyers highly trust merchants who provide ratings and high feedback. Therefore, as a seller, you need to work hard to get good feedback ratings from customers. eBay’s rating system includes positive, negative, and neutral ratings, and also joins “detailed seller ratings” where buyers can rank sellers in specific areas. By building trust and getting good ratings, you will win the trust of buyers.
2. Take high-quality product photos
High-quality product photos are essential to attract potential buyers. Don’t rush to take low-quality photos, because bad pictures will make customers think that your products are also low-quality. Improve the quality of your photos so that customers feel they are getting a good value for their money.
Also, avoid using other people’s photos, especially stealing other people’s photos. In today’s highly homogenized market, all products have similar pictures. Therefore, it is important to establish your own brand style so that people can immediately recognize and associate your brand when they see your products.
3. Research sold items
Before you start selling, carefully study similar items that have already sold on eBay. By searching for the item you want to sell and filtering for “sold items”, you can see how much the same item sold for. This will become your reference for pricing, which can be higher or lower than the price of the sold item, depending on your seller feedback rating.
There are certain skills to pricing. Pricing on eBay will affect your costs because eBay charges different fees for items in different price ranges. It is recommended that for items with low value, you can mark the price slightly lower and mark the shipping fee slightly higher.
4. Save time with the description of the sold items
Research similar items that have been sold on eBay, pay special attention to the items with the highest selling prices, and carefully study how the sellers describe these items. Apply those effective description methods to your own products and create your own product description templates. But be sure to completely rewrite the description to accurately describe your product.
5. Use a disclaimer template
New sellers may make some mistakes when they first start, which will result in additional fees. When writing product descriptions, be sure to check whether the items have minor defects, such as scratches, fabric tears, or unfinished seams. If these defects exist, include a disclaimer in the description and remind buyers that these are expected age defects.
6. Store account ban issues
Account bans sometimes happen on eBay, but don’t worry. Usually, you will receive a notification of your account ban via email, explaining the specific circumstances. Just contact eBay customer service to help resolve the issue. Temporary banned accounts can usually be restored, while permanent bans are more troublesome. Therefore, it is important to take some protective measures when opening a store. Pay attention to the anti-association problem between the account and the store. Don’t let your account and store be associated and eventually banned due to reports or too many negative reviews.
In summary, as a novice doing business on eBay, creating a reputable account, taking high-quality product photos, researching market prices, using templates to save time, using disclaimers, and paying attention to account ban issues will help you build a successful online retail business. Make full use of eBay, the originator of cross-border e-commerce, and explore its unique advantages, and you will be able to stand out in this highly competitive market.