Where to Sell: eBay

August 18, 2010 By: Jake Sabey Filed In: eBay, Where to Sell

Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a series of blog entries by Jake Sabey, Doba’s email marketing & education specialist, about where online retailers can sell online. Previous entries by Jake covered Amazon.com and Craigslist. Today we present Jake’s overview of selling on eBay.com:

Let’s talk about eBay.com: You know what it is, you know what it’s used for. As an eBay Certified Service Provider (for the past four years), the folks here at Doba want to make sure you know how to take full advantage of all that eBay has to offer. We want you to get your piece of the eBay pie.

This blog post was developed to help you focus on gaining a better understanding of eBay’s policies for sellers. We also want you to know the pluses and minuses of selling there, and we’re here to offer insights into how to best market your products on eBay.

Everybody knows that eBay is a great marketplace on which to sell your products and gain experience as an online retailer. However, it would be unwise to just leap into eBay’s world without any knowledge of the ins and outs of the marketplace. As a seller, the more you know about eBay’s platform, the more you’ll get out of your listings.

Using eBay’s Learning Center

eBay goes out of its way to make its procedures simple so you can quickly gain an understanding about how things work in their universe — and especially their rules and conditions for sellers. You can access the Learning Center from the top of any eBay page by scrolling over “Help” in the navigation bar, and clicking “Learning Center.” Or you can simply visit here: www.ebay.com/education

The Learning Center is designed to help both new and experienced sellers gain knowledge that will go a long way in growing their business. Topics covered include:

New to eBay
How to Buy
How to Sell
Increase Your Sales

While the Learning Center has information to help you increase sales, eBay’s main Help area can assist you with the more mundane matters — how to get paid, seller fees and managing your eBay account. You can access the main Help section by simply clicking on the word “Help” at the top of any eBay page.

The Help section has everything you’ll ever need to know about eBay from a buyer or seller’s perspective. Make sure to check out the Seller Information Center for more sellers’ information.

Pros and Cons

Every online marketplace has its pros and cons. Here are some thoughts to ponder when listing products on eBay:

Pros

It’s the world’s largest trading community where millions of items are bought and sold every day.
Lots of traffic (meaning lots of shoppers).
Integrated with Doba’s Push to Marketplace tool. (List products directly from Doba’s catalog into an eBay listing).
Opportunity to create custom product pictures, descriptions and pricing.
Seller protection is available to guard against unscrupulous buyers.
Bulk uploads.
PayPal compatible.
Many eBay-approved third-party tools are offered to help you with your business.

Cons

The cost of listing and selling affects profits.
In some cases, listing fees apply even if a product doesn’t sell.
You share space with your competitors, at times selling the same items.
Lots of competition can be challenging.
Possibility or risk of fraud (same with most marketplaces).

Marketing on eBay

Marketing your products on eBay and becoming profitable is an on-going process that doesn’t just happen overnight. When selling on eBay, it’s important to differentiate yourself from your competition. Be different, unique and stand out from other sellers listing the same products that you’re listing. Don’t fall into the trap of competing solely on price.

Doba’s Education Center is chock full of information covering the eBay marketplace. Our eBay 101 and eBay 201 webinars have plenty of information for all types and sizes of eBay sellers, from the beginning to the veteran. While you’re at it, check out our “Selling on eBay” section of Doba’s Education Center for articles that provide tips for selling on eBay. Here are a few to get you started:

Overall, eBay is an awesome market to test marketing strategies, gain experience and become successful.

Note: Try not to get too distracted by all the good shoe deals they have. Remember, you’re trying to sell, not buy.