By Michael Briggin
Sometimes selling through your organization’s website isn’t enough. Looking into Ebay can be another alternative.
Here’s what we recommend you pay attention to when using Ebay for your organization’s Ecommerce marketing strategy:
Know What The Ebay Community Is All About
While Ebay can be a large and expansive community, it’s important to be honest with who buys your items. Transparency when it comes to what you sell goes a long way with buyers.
Whether you’re considering an auction or buy-it-now listing, be sure to be truthful about the condition and description of your items. If not all of your items are in the same condition as the rest, it’s better to be detailed about it anyway.
Also, post as many pictures of your items as you can. Doing so will make it easier for buyers to know what your items look like and what they can expect should they buy them. No buyer wants a dishonest seller.
Deciding on Auctions vs. Buy-It-Now Listings
Considering whether to post auctions, buy-it-now listings or both is the most critical part of your Ebay Ecommerce marketing strategy. Both offer unique opportunities to create visibility for what you’re selling.
Auctions can be an opportunity for you to sell your items quickly although sellers can make the mistake of pricing items up for auction the same as the normal retail price. Instead, pricing items lower to begin with to allow enough bids. Sometimes items can be sold for higher than the normal price through the auction process. You never know.
Buy-It-Now listings on the other hand can be used to price items normally on auction listings to the normal retail price or a price higher than auction pricing. You can put in the Buy-It-Now price for the same auction listing or as a separate listing.
Be aware that a Buy-It-Now listing without an auction option may run into problems if buyers have a bid option for a lower price to begin with. The reason for this is that certain items in the Ebay marketplace may not sell at a regular Buy-It-Now price as buyers will likely want the price to be lower.
Making Offers to Buyers
When you create Buy-It-Now listings for your items, you can have the option of allowing prospective buyers to make offers as an alternative option to getting your organization’s items sold.
Key thing to be aware about offers is aiming to be flexible. When you consider an offer, it’s important to be mindful of how the offer amount by the buyer is going to impact your bottom line. If you aren’t getting enough Buy-It-Now purchases, adding in the offer option to your item listings will allow buyers to propose their own price suggestions.
If you put in an offer amount, consider what is reasonable for you but comes closest to your normal retail price.
Using Ebay’s Built-In Promotional Advertising
With any listing you have whether it be an auction or Buy-It-Now one there is a Promote Listing option for you to select once your listing is live.
Although it’s tempting to use the Promote Listing button, you’re better off using it selectively than aggressively.
If you have items that are barely getting any bids or views, then this advertising method can be of help. If your items are getting lots of bids and views, while it’s encouraged to maximize them, in this case only promoting your listing once is advisable.
Providing Customer Service
Always be friendly and forthcoming to your buyers as they will be leaving feedback upon your organization receiving payments and delivering the items to them.
Aim for stellar customer service, be honest about your item’s condition and deliver packages to your buyers as soon as possible. The more you do this, the less likely you will get negative feedback, which can put pressure on your organization to deliver to buyers.
