5 Pro Tips for eBay Sellers
Wednesday, February 17, 2016Kelly Nelson
Discover How to Sell More on Ebay
Over 20 years ago, the first item was sold on eBay. Do you know what it was?
A broken laser printer! It was listed for $1 and sold for $14.83. This should give you a pretty strong indication of the power of this marketplace
(TIME).
eBay is a powerful tool and a great place to sell special items with a certain flare. You can be a very successful seller and eBay offers some amazing resources for sellers who need help
getting started.
For those of you who are interested in going a little further, we have a few helpful tips of our own below.
Do your research
Before you attempt to do anything, research is crucial to the success of your eBay selling strategy. Some questions you should start with are:
- Is my product legal?
- Is there a market for it?
- Does eBay have an existing category for it?
- What are my competitors doing? (This question is key for developing your pricing strategy)
When you’ve successfully answered these and others you can begin to put your place in to action. The internet is a beautiful thing and is virtually a never ending resource for you to conduct your research.
Good photos make all the difference
Seriously, they do! Sometimes that flash can be scary because it captures all the imperfections of your product. Here is the good news, imperfections can mean dollar signs on eBay. This platform is great for vintages, antiques and collectables. Having said that embrace the flash! Make time to put some real effort into your photos as well. You want them to be effective. For more tips on how to take dynamic product photos, check out
this post on our blog.
Be Honest
As mentioned above, flaws can be a good thing so it’s best to be upfront about them. Furthermore, you want your buyer to know all flaws before they receive the final product. Any surprises could result in bad reviews for your seller account. In addition, being honest in your photos and description helps to avoid messy returns. If you’re having trouble with negative reviews, we have some battle tips on our
blog to help you out!
Use the bundle feature provided by eBay
Under the seller item and information, you’ll often see
“More from this seller” or
“See other items” that would provide a potential buyer to purchase other items from you. Remember, eBay is full of collectors meaning they would probably purchase more than one item from you as long as they belong together. If you are selling like items, use this feature and see what kind of results come from it. Chances are, you will see more of a return.
Imperfections are perfect the way they are
The key term here is “as is” because restoration and fix ups can be damaging to your product. We mentioned above that flaws can make a product more valuable. Especially with antiques and collectables. Most collectors will prefer “as is” instead of a restored valuable. The restoration process often takes away value.
Bringing it all together
eBay is a different kind of marketplace, and it can take a while to get a handle on the buyer climate for your product. Often, it’s a space for one-of-a-kind valuables and collectables. Having said that, remember to take feedback well and use it to your advantage to better yourself as an effective seller.
What are some successful seller tips you have used in the past? Share in the comments below.