Ok, You have signed up on eBay, listed your products and are now waiting for flood of sales to come but well either nothing is coming or instead of flood it appears like tap water is flowing. Welcome to sellers world and don’t worry the sales will pick up but now it is time to be smart. Just remember that as like any other endeavor in life the outcome depends upon the amount of hard work you put in. With that being said, here are few of the ideas and tips that will help you to sell more in ebay.
Research, Research, Research
There is no substitute for hard work. Of all the prospective sellers looking for products to sell in eBay, 80% will never go beyond 2nd page. If YOU too are not going beyond 2nd page than you have not differentiated yourself and success in online selling business is all about differentiating.
Always use ‘Buy It Now’ option
There is a large chunk of customers who are not going to wait for auction to end, They are looking for instant fulfillment of a desire/problem and if you do not have ‘Buy It Now’ button than you are missing out on quite a bit of sales. Best of all, this ‘Buy It Now‘ do not cost a dime so put it up!
Buy first, Sell Later
How many times have you bought from a seller who has 0 Ratings? Of the people I asked there are less than 15% percent people who have bought from sellers/products with no ratings. On eBay you can easily rectify this problem, simply buy couple of products from other sellers (eBay Buying Guide), rate them and they will rate you. Once you start selling these ratings that you have accumulated as buyer will display on your seller profile.
Do not Copy, Just Steal
Accept that you are new and do not fully understand the game. Easy way-in is to replicate the success of other established sellers. You can copy their products but that will not help you much as you will not be able to differentiate. Better way is to market your products in much better manner than the existing large sellers and this way you can get in by utilizing the successful products.
Right Keywords for Top Rankings
For the retailers of Malls, shelf placement may be most important thing, where companies may fight for placement of their products on most visible shelves of a mall. Well in the era of eCommerce the most important factor is search ranking. Fight for it but choose your fights smartly and once you have decided a keyword to target than go full throttle.
Use Professional Product Pictures
Pictures are to eCommerce what packaging is to offline sales. Packaging establishes the quality of product in a buyers mind, in the similar fashion on an online platform, a professional product picture gives the feel of high quality product. An online buyer cannot physically see the product before buying so product pictures and product description is what establishes the authenticity and quality of product in a buyer’s mind.
Differentiate with details
Unless you are selling under your own brand, chances are you are sourcing the product from somewhere and possibly there are other sellers who too are sourcing from same manufacturer. In such a situation, you need to establish authenticity of your product and that you can do by using high quality product images as described in last point and professionally written product descriptions which will help you in differentiating yourself from other sellers of similar product.
Price Matters
One of the downside of selling on eBay or for that matter any online platform is the easy comparison of similar products available to customer. Sellers from various geographic location may be selling a similar product and for buyer he has ability to chose anyone of the seller. In such a situation price is what will drive the customer’s decision. On the plus side, lower price results in more sales so loss in profit margin may be offset by the velocity of sales.
Handling Time : 1 Business Day
Handling time is the duration between the time when order was placed and when it got shipped. eBay recommends same day to 1 day handling time and it also is requirement for Top Seller Rating in eBay. If you are looking to take your online selling business professionally than you need to keep your order handling time at maximum of 1 day.
Reliable Fulfillment & Courier Costs
Getting new order is one part of online business, Fulfilling the order while consistently keeping low handling time, using reliable yet most cost effective order shipment courier services is other part of business. (AusPost Shipping Calculator) You will either need to have build a team or alternatively you can hire services of company like ForwardToFBA as described below.
How ForwardToFBA can help you?
ForwardToFBA provides high quality yet most budget friendly, preparation, forwarding and fulfillment services. We can assist you in following manner:
- Inventory Storage: Use ForwardToFBA secure storage facilities to store your inventory at the lowest market rates.
- Professional Fulfillment: We provide professional fulfillment services for your stored inventory. Our trained inspectors will inspect, prepare and professionally pack your fulfillment orders for onward shipment to your buyers.
- 1 Business Day Handling Time: ForwardToFBA Fulfillment service has handling time of less than 24 hours. Any fulfillment order placed before 11AM is shipped on same day while all the other orders get shipped out next day.
- Professional Photography: Our add on services provide you with option to get your product professionally photographed. We use our arrangement with local studio to get your product photographed.
- Bundling & Custom Packaging: ForwardToFBA takes care of any custom packaging requirements of your buyers and as well as multiple units can be packaged together to better optimize shipping costs.
Check out ForwardToFBA Prep & Forwarding details, pricing or directly fill in the form to generate work order.
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