What are the current opportunities for sellers on eBay? How can you increase your sales, or rank higher in eBay’s algorithms? We’re answering all the different ways you should be selling on eBay!
We know this space is noisy, so we’ll keep things simple!
Important eBay Key Terms
If you aren’t already, get acquainted with the key services eBay are offering their sellers:
eBay’s Seller Centre
eBay’s Seller Centre is the central platform dedicated to providing private and business sellers with all the information they need about making the most of their eBay account.
From learning about promoted listings, to growing your sales with different tools, there’s lots to be learnt. eBay Seller Centre also allows you to mange your:
- Listings
- Promotions
- Marketing
- Shipping
- eBay store front
- Finances
- Service Metrics
eBay Shop
Every seller on eBay has access to an eBay Shop. This is a central destination for other buyers to learn more about you and your business. Sellers and buyers can browse yours listings through a customised and branded shopfront, along with discounted fees and an increased number of free listings per month.
When you open an eBay store, you’ll choose a Shop package: Basic, Featured or Anchor.
Basic: Get your business started with reduced fees and tools to help you grow.
Featured: Take it to the next level with more free listings, eBay packaging supplies, free international listings and more.
Anchor: Expand your business with confidence, with unlimited fixed price listings included and increased benefits across the board.
eBay Premium Service
eBay Premium Service is badge for consumers looking to identify items from sellers that offer the best services. The service standards offered by eBay Premier Sellers are continuously reviewed by eBay. To become one, you must meet the following criteria:
- Offer a free domestic delivery option within 3 working days
- Offer an express delivery option within 2 working days for no more than £10
- For items over £20, all of the delivery services must be designated tracked services and valid tracking must be uploaded within the dispatch time (this includes auction-style listings and Best Offers where the final price is over £20).
eBay’s Service Metrics
eBay’s Service Metrics allows sellers to rate themselves against the competition. These metrics can help reduce after-sale buyer requests, which are time-consuming, costly to service, and often result in refunded sales.
See how many of your transactions result in ‘Item not as described’ return requests and ‘Item not received’ requests, along with valuable insights into why these requests are being made.
eBay’s Global Shipping Program
eBay’s Global Shipping Program (GSP) aims to make international shipping easy for eBay sellers. With GSP you only have to ship your product to a warehouse in your own country, then eBay takes over and handles international delivery to the buyer.
Looking to better optimise your shipping for profit? Check out our blog regarding some of the top eBay shipping tips.
eBay sales reports
eBay sales reports can help a seller track their key metrics when it comes to their selling activities. Factors such as: sales, listings, successful listing % and sales prices can all be tracked and analysed through eBay sales reports.
eBay sales reports also allow users to compare sale performances with pre-set sales goals. You can analyse which factors have contributed most towards your sales (e.g. price, listing information, advertisement, images).
One of the key uses for eBay sales reports is to refine and optimise your selling strategies to make sure you are pushing out contributing factors that work for your product/business.
eBay power sellers
eBay power sellers are users who have a long well-maintained history of selling products on the platform while also keeping a certain level of customer satisfaction.
Becoming a power seller is one of the prerequisites to becoming an eBay top seller. Reaching these seller levels can help boost search rankings and gives the seller a logo which can instil confidence in the buyer.
Check out eBay’s advice and specific requirements to become an eBay power seller.
What makes a great eBay listing?
When selling on eBay you’re not just up against the competition, you’re up against the search engine. With that in mind…
Make sure you’re meeting the standards
eBay will reward sellers who reach the minimum seller standards. If you reach the ‘Top-rated seller’ threshold, your listings will instantly receive a boost.
Offer free postage (if you can!)
Sellers offering free postage are likely to list higher.
Avoid duplicating your listings
As a platform, eBay recognise that without the same rigid catalogue system as Amazon, consumers can sometimes feel overwhelmed from a single search. That’s why it’s so important to adhere to eBay’s listing rules, including the creation of duplicate listings.
Don’t divert your traffic
Despite the freedom to increase brand awareness through your ‘eBay shop’ it’s important that all traffic stays on eBay. Regularly encouraging users to visit sites like your website will have a negative impact your listing.
Don’t spam your titles
Overcrowding your listing titles with too many keywords will not help your listing. eBay rewards the conversation rate of your listing, so make sure you’re going for going for the customers that are relevant to your product!
Be clear, and honest
eBay rewards sellers with clear and transparent descriptions.
Check out our other article about optimising your eBay listings
What’s selling best?
We’ve compiled the best performing categories on eBay based on current best sellers, as well as the influence of what’s selling best outside of the platform.
- Smartphone Accessories
- Health and Beauty Products
- Smart Watches
- Smartphones
- Sporting Equipment
- Sewing
- Drones
- Furniture
- Books
- Guitars
Start selling internationally
One of the best ways to increase your eBay sales is to expand your audience. By using eBay’s different international selling programmes, it’s easier than ever to start getting your products to audiences outside your country.
Basic International Selling
Offer international postage on your listings, enabling international visitors to purchase your products, and appear on international eBay sites.
Advanced International Selling
Whilst a little more time consuming, eBay’s advanced selling allows you to optimise your listings for the markets you want to sell on internationally.
Global Shopping Programme
Ship your products directly to the GSP shipping centre, and eBay’s global postage programme will take care of the rest (including international fees).
If this is an option you’re considering, it’s worth investing in a good inventory management software to help manage your sales across more than one marketplace, with multiple currencies.
Our advice to you
We have a number of customers selling on eBay, all of which benefit from expanding their operations across multiple marketplaces. Whilst eBay is one of the most successful online selling platforms, it’s important to review what other marketplaces are out there for you – we recommend checking out our top ten online marketplaces .
For those interested in setting up an account and haven’t already, we have a step-by-step guide for you to follow. If you’re already set up and need advice with what to do next, be that store design or account growth, we recommend our trusted partner Day to Day eBay.
How does Khaos Control work with eBay?
The Khaos Control integration allows you to connect your multi-channel business directly with your eBay store. This enables data to pass back and forth between the two, syncing your inventory, orders, payments and shipping in one place.