So, you’ve decided to make your millions on eBay. You’re not alone. Currently, over 4.3 million people worldwide claim to make a large portion of their income from the auction website. And the website certainly has enough registered users to go around!
Here are my top 7 tips for building a successful eBay business:-
1. HIGH QUALITY PHOTOS – this is perhaps the single most important factor in whether your items will sell or not. If you have to invest in a better quality digital camera, do so. It will be worth it. For expensive or complicated items, include several photographs from different angles. Always use the Gallery option which places a small image of your item on the search page.
2. HONESTY – if you are selling an item that is damaged in some way, mention that in the description. Do not mislead anyone, it will only result in you having to refund the buyer’s money and probably receiving a negative feedback comment. I have had several occasions where my damaged items (that I have described as being damaged, and detailed the damage) have been bought and gratefully received. It really is true that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, but honesty is the key.
3. DON’T USE RESERVES – buyers don’t like auction listings which have reserves. Instead of using this feature, decide the price you would be willing to sell each item for and use this as your starting bid price. Only start items at 1p or 99p if you are happy to sell them for that amount, as the risk doesn’t always pay off.
4. MARKET RESEARCH – before you begin your eBay business, do your market research; offline, online and specifically on eBay. If the marketplace is already crowded, perhaps you should be thinking of selling something else. Decide who your target audience is and find out when they will be online, and use that information to decide when you begin your auctions and their duration (HINT – Sunday evenings are generally the best time to finish an auction).
5. GOOD SPELLING AND GRAMMAR – ensure that all of your listings contain good spelling and grammar. It is essential that your titles are spelt correctly as they will not appear in search results if not, but even bad spelling and grammar within your actual listings can put people off. Similarly, choose a font that is easy to read – Arial size 12 is a safe bet.
6. BE EASY TO CONTACT – state clearly on your listings how long you take to respond to questions, and then stand by that commitment. I always advise that I will respond within 24 hours, and I do so. Even on weekends.
7. MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE – eBay provides you with an ‘About Me’ page, a page where you can tell the world about you and your business. And this page is incredibly important and, sadly, often overlooked. The great thing about About Me pages is that they automatically appear within Google searches. So make your About Me page rich in keywords and with a link to your e-commerce website (if you have one).
8. DON’T UNDERCUT ON PRICE – it isn’t always true that people will buy from the cheapest seller. Buyers are actually much more sophisticated than that, and consider various other things. If your listing contains high quality images, accurate descriptions, good spelling and grammar, several payment options, a description in a font that is easy to read (and free of any graphics that move, or make noise – remember that not everyone has fast Internet connections and some people will be connecting to the site at work), reasonable P&P, a comprehensive returns policy, and you are a seller with mainly positive feedback comments, you will find that people will be prepared to pay more to buy from you than Joe Bloggs who charges less but has none of the other factors. If you make sure that sold items are packaged to a high standard and posted quickly (I used to include a lollipop with all sold items and a personal note thanking the customer for their business – consider doing something similar), you’ll find that customers will buy from you again instead of cheap Joe Bloggs!
Katie Forrest began her first business aged just 21. She is a nutritionist and a successful network marketer and is happy to answer questions. She can be contacted at enquiries@TheNutritionWebsite.com or on (+44) 1623 451174
Tags: ebay, sales, self employment
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