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The Key To Running A Successful Ebay Business

The success of eBay has opened up a great online business opportunity to many budding entrepreneurs and is an excellent way to start your own business online with very little start up capital. The success of the eBay format is unmatched and no other online auction site offers the same opportunity to reach a vast pool of customers all ready and willing to spend money.

However, for every eBay success story there are hundreds of people who have started a business selling via eBay only to fail, giving up after achieving few or no sales. Many people fail to realize that although setting up an online auction business is easier (and cheaper) than establishing a bricks and mortar retail business in order to build a profitable business online you need to put in just as much effort as with any other business. Not only this but there are added hurdles that the online retailer has to jump to win over customers.

The first thing you must do before getting your online auction business up and running is research. This is crucial to the success of your venture. You need to establish what sells and for how much, eBay Pulse is great for researching popular categories. This will give you some ideas about what areas you could focus your business on. Once you have your ideas you have to look at the competition and really look at how well items in your category sell. Look at current and completed listings over a period of time to get a real feel for your market.

You also need to research your competition, how many other people are selling the same items as you hope to, what feedback do they have? Even if they are very popular this can work in your favor, learn from them and make sure you offer equally competitive prices and good customer service. You need to offer as many payment options as you can so you don’t put off prospective customers; PayPal is essential, most people prefer to pay this way as it’s safe and simple.

The next stage is sourcing a good wholesaler or drop-shipper (if you’re starting up on a tight budget). You need to find a supplier that can offer you goods at a competitive rate. If you can’t match the competition on price you will face an uphill struggle to win business. The very popularity of eBay makes it a highly competitive marketplace, meaning prices are really low in some categories so you need to be sure you can price your items cheaply enough. Make sure you take all factors into consideration, for example some categories are so fiercely competitive that there are limits on the post and packaging fees you can charge, for some categories you cannot add any fees at all. This can seriously eat into your profit margin, so do your home work, do the sums before you invest any more time than needed into researching a particular area.

Once you have your stock the next step is to start selling, which can be easier said than done. Don’t expect to just throw your listing up and have a queue of people wanting to buy from you. With an online retail business on eBay the only opportunity you have to persuade customers to buy from you is your listing. The customer can’t physically see or feel the item so your description and the pictures you take need to entice the buyer.

There may be twenty other items listed at the same time as yours, so the only opportunity you have to encourage people to view your item in the first place, is the title. Use the title to give as much information about the item as possible, this is helpful to buyers scanning through a list of items but will also give you the best chance of having your item show up when people search. Put together a detailed description (being honest about any faults) and take the best photos you can. There are lots of programs available that allow you to self-host your pictures so you can add additional photos without paying extra eBay fees and give your potential customers a great view of your item. Make your pictures look as appealing and professional as possible, use a plain background – the buyer doesn’t want to know the color scheme of your living room, they just want to see the item.

Good customer service is vital to the success of any business and this begins before you have sold anything. With an online auction business this is possibly even more important, you don’t have many opportunities to interact with your potential buyers so you have to make the best impression possible at any chance you get. Lots of people like to ask questions about the item and you will lose potential buyers if you fail to respond in a timely fashion. In all communication with your customers or potential customers be professional, courteous and as helpful as possible; although you may be running your online auction business from home your customers should feel as if they are dealing with a professional, experienced company.

One of the features that makes eBay so popular is the feedback process. This gives people confidence in the online sales process; if hundreds or thousands of people have had positive experiences buying from you in the past they feel reassured and therefore happy to make a purchase. This makes the customer service you offer absolutely critical to your online business. Poor customer service will result in a low feedback score, which will drive customers away and prevent you winning repeat business – one of the best ways to build a sustainable and profitable business.

We have already dealt with pre-sale customer service but the after-service is equally important, if you hope to win repeat business. Of course, at a basic level you need to ensure that the item is delivered in a timely fashion and well packaged to survive the journey in perfect condition. Aside from this there are lots of little touches you can add to your service to make yourself stand out from the ordinary. You want your customers to have a positive experience to encourage them to come back to you in the future.

Acknowledge your successful buyer promptly and let them know when to expect their parcel. Include a compliment slip with their item; this looks professional and reminds them of your business details, for future reference. Deal with any problems promptly, problems do arise on occasion but provided you deal with the issue quickly and helpfully it needn’t result in a negative transaction, sometimes the most positive feedback comes from people who feel you have gone out of your way to fix a problem for them quickly and sympathetically.

Finally, keep on researching your market. New trends develop all the time and you need to stay in tune with what your customers want. Keep an eye on the competition, are you still offering everything they are, are there any new sellers in your area? Look for ways you could reduce your overheads, whilst maintaining standards. Perhaps there is a cheaper delivery service you could use or you may be able to reduce your eBay selling fees by opening an eBay shop.

There is great scope to make money from an eBay business, after all eBay offers you access to an unrivaled marketplace. However, like any business, on or offline, it requires a great deal of dedication and determination to succeed. Sales won’t simply fall into your lap, you have to work to win every customer but, if you put the effort in you can reap the rewards and build a sustainable and profitable business.

About the Author

Since starting my own successful business on eBay a few years ago I know manage my own website, giving advice and tips to others who are looking to get started with e-commerce – getting an eBay business up and running can be hard, so you need all the advice and support you can find – but believe me, the rewards are well worth it, if you’re willing to stick with it!

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