5 Tips for Thriving on eBay

Did you miss Multichannel Merchant’s May 11 webinar, “Selling on eBay: Why, What & How?” If you did, you missed ChannelAdvisor Senior Manager of US Business Development Jayson Humphrey share these 5 tips for thriving on eBay:

Free Delivery

What Went Wrong: You might offer a variety of fulfillment methods on eBay, including next-day delivery – which is great. But you don’t go the extra mile and provide your buyers with the option to select free shipping.

The Consequences: Not offering eBay customers a free shipping option can harm your seller status and reduce your sales. On a marketplace as competitive as eBay, you could find that a large amount of your competitors are offering free shipping. Your price might be the same as your competitors’ – or even slightly cheaper – but if a consumer sees that Seller 1 offers free shipping and Seller 2 does not, there’s a good chance that the first seller will get the sale.

The Answer: The solution for this first mistake is also one of the simplest. To offer free shipping, simply head to the “Sell your item” form and select “Flat: Same cost to all buyers” or “Calculated: Cost varies by buyer location.” You then choose a shipping service from the Services drop-down menu and pick the free shipping checkbox. Not only could free shipping incentivize a shopper to purchase a product, but over half of US online buyers say that free shipping actually encourages them to buy from that same retailer again.

Handling Negative Feedback

What Went Wrong: You’ve taken your eye off the ball when it comes to customer reviews and notice that you’ve received negative feedback that either wasn’t your fault or was unwarranted.

The Consequences: Customer feedback is very important on eBay and can affect your seller performance both positively and negatively, depending on the comments you obtain. Buyers want to feel they can trust a seller, and if you have a considerable number of negative reviews, they might be put off from purchasing your product.

The Answer: If you get this type of inaccurate feedback, you can have it removed. EBay doesn’t want to see seller performance ratings negatively affected because of inaccurate or unjust customer criticism. So report the feedback to eBay, stating your reasons for why it’s unwarranted and ask for it to be removed. You can also request a feedback revision if a seller initially left negative feedback but you went on to resolve the issue.

Competitive Analysis:

What Went Wrong: Because eBay is so popular, it’s a competitive marketplace for sellers. Instead of keeping an eye on your competitors’ performances and seller strategies, you ignore them and concentrate solely on your own approach.

The Consequences: The performance of your competitors and the service you offer in comparison can have substantial consequences for how successful you are on eBay. Do you need to adjust your prices to match your competitors’ prices? Are other sellers providing a far superior fulfillment service? Are they offering promotions and discounts, causing their listings to overshadow your items? By failing to commit any time to competitor research and analysis, these scenarios become likely.

The Answer: Be sure to keep an eye on other eBay sellers and carry out competitor analysis on a regular basis, examining how competitors are performing, how it affects you and what you can do to remain competitive. One of the great benefits for eBay buyers is that they have a wealth of choices when searching for most products, with a multitude of sellers all battling for their attention and sales. Don’t fall behind the pack.

Use Strike Through Pricing:

What Went Wrong: You don’t take advantage of Strike-Through Pricing (STP) on eBay and miss the opportunity to visibly show items with discounted prices, including limited-time free shipping offers.

The Consequences: Strike-Through Pricing can be a valuable addition for an eBay seller. By offering price discounts for certain items, you allow customers to see how much they’re saving, along with making your listings stand out from the crowd. Many times, shoppers aren’t aware of price discounts because retailers aren’t using STP. Failing to at least test this free eBay feature could be costing you customers and sales, with consumers instead being drawn to listings with visibly reduced prices or sales.

The Answer: You can manage STP through the ChannelAdvisor platform. To set up this tool in your ChannelAdvisor account, you must first contact eBay so they can add you to this program. Once you get approval from eBay, inform the ChannelAdvisor Support team, and they can have this added to your fixed price posting templates.

Fresh listings:

What Went Wrong: You’ve been selling the same products for a while now and have had the same product title and item page from the start.

The Consequences: By failing to update your product listings, you risk the possibility of losing relevance. You could also be missing out on any updates eBay may have implemented to improve listings. If buyers struggle to find your items, or if your listings and titles don’t grab their attention, you could see fewer clicks through to your item page.

The Answer: ChannelAdvisor offers a tool – Actionable Retail Insights – designed to help you optimize your presence on marketplaces. Included in this feature is eBay Insights, which offers recommendations for sellers looking to improve their listings. We’ll identify areas for improvement and help promote your listings on eBay.

If you missed the webinar, you missed a lot more than just the 5 tips for thriving on eBay. You still need to know to know why, what, and how to sell on eBay, and the webinar is available ON DEMAND.

Click here to access the webinar Selling on eBay: Why, What & How.

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