eBay Still Growing Strongly

It’s been a household name across the world for many years, eBay is as widely know and recognised as Apple or even Coca Cola.

It’s easy to forget that eBay is a constantly evolving business and this weeks financial figures reveal that it’s still growing strongly and due to do even more next year.

As a marketplace eBay has benefited considerably by the acquisition of PayPal which now makes up for 41 percent of total sales and has posted the strongest revenue growth in three years. With the addition of a mobile based payment app they are expecting to do $3 billion of payments via mobile devices this year.

So when we think of eBay as “just that place to offload old stuff” remember that it is still one of the biggest eCommerce sites on the net today and from the financial figures it’s set to stay that way for some time to come.

Why you need to Specialise on eBay

Selling on eBay these days is a sophisticated affair; in order for you to beat your competition you need to stand out. You need to be professional, you need to have excellent customer service and you need to have a clear brand.

If you had a shop selling some DVD’s, collectors stamps, pet grooming brushes and some china antiques I think it’s fair to say you will be sending out mixed messages. You may sell some of the of priced DVD’s and maybe a dog brush or two but if a collector finds an Imari vase in your shop they will not be encouraged to see your last three sales where Gone with the Wind, Harry Potter and a grooming brush for a Shihtzu.

It’s not giving the potential buyer the felling of confidence, the feeling that you know what you are selling. You may well know what you are selling but you need to make this clear, you need to create a brand for yourself and your business. If your shop contained antique china and the about me page mentioned that you specialised in Japanese porcelain from the 17th and 18 century the seller would instantly feel at ease.

He may see from the badge next to your username that you are a top 1000 reviewer on eBay and that you have written many guides on Japanese porcelain collecting. He may read through some and want to see more of what you are selling, he may look at your other items and perhaps make two purchases as he interest was heightened by all the additional information from the guides.

Hopefully you can see that picking your niche and specialising in an area will have much greater impact on the buyer experience that a mish-mash of items all in one place.

Choose your niche carefully, find your place in the market and build your reputation as an expert in your chosen niche.

Becoming an Expert in your Niche

When beginning your eBay business it’s not just about the stock you sell, in fact that’s just a small part of it.

It’s important to get the customer service right and also, it’s important to sell yourself as an expert in your niche. As an expert you will gain more respect and as a result more buyers.

The best way to show your expertise is to write about it. Write product reviews; write about the good and bad points of your niche. If your niche is a hobby write about your own collection, write about your favourite whatever or your top ten whatever’s. In every niche there is always helpful and insightful information to write about. Buyers guides, historical info, technical issues, frequently asked questions. There are hundreds of interesting ways to offer information.

The best way to make use of this is with eBay reviews and guides. There you will find an amazing archive of articles on just about everything, just go to www.reviews.ebay.co.uk or .com if in North America. Click on write a guide and off you go. Once you finish it will be displayed with your own eBay ID next to it for all to see. Now just write four more in the next 7 days.

If you can write 5 articles each week for around three to four weeks you will become an expert in your niche. By that time you will be a top 5,000 reviewer and have another badge of honour to go next to your user ID. If you find your are enjoying it keep going because every additional guide you do will increase your visibility in the marketplace and will also brand yourself as an expert.

This may seem like allot of work but just take it a week at a time, one article each week day will be enough. It should only take you 20 minutes of your time and it costs you nothing but those minutes. Pick a regular time each day, just after dinner or after the kids are in bed. Once you have done a few weeks you may find you can write one in just 10-15 minutes.

So why not give it a go, you have nothing to lose and plenty to gain, it costs you nothing and could make you a load of extra cash for your business. So set yourself a target of one month, get writing and let me know how you get on.

Smart eBay Sellers are Social Sellers

If you have been selling on eBay for years then you must adapt to survive, embrace the new trends and make them part of your business. Only 5 Years ago Facebook didn’t exist, now you will see the logo in adverts on TV, you will hear newsreaders announcing that you can find more info on a particular subject on their Facebook page.

In just 5 years Facebook has gone from not existing to part of every day life. regardless of whether you like this or not if you are in business you have to make use of it. Millions of people spend allot of time on Facebook and it’s a great place to connect with your repeat customers and also to find new ones. If you ignore it you will miss out on a great stream of passive sales.

With facebook you can set it up and let your customers spread the word for you, if they like what they just bought from you ask them to add you to your fan page. All thier friends wil see that you did this and you will instantly get a heap more peole taking a look out of curiosity, then if a few of them also click like in on your fan page then you will get a heap more visability to all of their friends.

All you need to do is set up the page and maybe set-up an automated email to ask your customers to check you out on Facebook. It’s a small amount of time to invest but a great return that will go on and on.

The same applies for Twitter although it takes a little more of your time to Tweet on a regular basis, but even if you just tweeted when you added new stock or had a sale on it would be better then nothing, free traffic is free traffic. Don’t let it go to waste.

If you have more time to spend on it, and you start to find that you are having fun on Facebook and Twitter then interacting with your customers and regularly updating all your social media streams will grow your marketplace visibility and your traffic levels exponentially. The more you put in to it the more you will get out.

Whatever level of participation you choose, make sure you do at least something. It’s a brave new world people, embrace it and you will reap the rewards.

How to Get Noticed on eBay

Building an eBay business is one thing, getting your products noticed by hundreds buyers is another.

Ultimately we want to build an eBay business that is low maintenance and high demand, we don’t want to create too much work for ourselves but to create plenty of interest which results in plenty of buyers. This is not that difficult if you know what you are doing. Luckily I know what I’m doing, since 2005 I have built and sold countless eBay businesses. I have defined what it take to go from nothing to profit, then take that new business and dominate it’s chosen niche.

Here are a few of my top tips top get your business noticed:

1. Find yourself an angle  -  Once you have decided what niche you will sell in and what products you want to sell you need to figure out an angle – your USP. (Unique Selling Point) What will make your business stand out from the competition. Is it your exceptional customer service? Is it because all of your items ship the same day if ordered before 3:00pm? With plenty of customer contact letting them know they are in safe hands etc?  Is it that your line of products are a better quality then the rest?
2. Be as visible as possible – If buyers can’t find your auction you wont make many sales. Make sure you are using the correct keywords in your auction titles to ensure you come up in the search results.
3. Build an eBay Store - If you are serious about your online business you need to show this, an eBay store will present a professional image to your customer and also give your products much more visibility, your store will be featured in the eBay store searches and as a store owner you extra get tools to present your other products in each auction listing you make.
4. Write product reviews on eBay –  EBay reviews and guides pages allows the eBay community to share their knowledge of products with each other. You can create some reviews of your stock and maybe some helpful tips about the niche you sell in, each review and guide will have your eBay id and store logo at the end so will give your store more visibility within the eBay community.
5. Don’t forget Social Media - You don’t need me to tell you how big social media is today, so make sure you are taking advantage of this and create a fan page for your eBay business, you can add updates when new stock arrives and post up sales that are happening etc, why not invite your customers to add you in an after sales email?

These are just a few ideas of how to increase your eBay store’s visibility on eBay, each thing may only make a small difference but together they can make all the difference! eBay is a competitive marketplace and you need to make sure you get noticed above the rest, so put these ideas into practise and watch your sales rise.