This spring, eBay launched its Up and Running campaign to attract new sellers to the marketplace. New business sellers are being enticed with a free Basic eBay Store for three months, no selling fees through June 30 (up to 500 orders), and access to a suite of eBay seller tools tailored to ecommerce businesses new to the marketplace.
While the program is a spinoff of the Retail Revival initiative, which was established to help bring brick-and-mortar businesses online, businesses operating solely in the ecommerce space can also take advantage of this latest promotion. The hope is to draw sellers to eBay, allow them to establish themselves within the site’s marketplace ecosystem, and allow them to thrive there long after the promotional period ends.
It’s a logical plan that offers sellers tremendous upside with minimal risk. Even if you are not a new eBay seller, this may still be an ideal time to get back into the business. With all of the processing delays and unpredictability across other popular marketplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, customers are more willing to seek alternative options.
Amazon shipments (Prime or otherwise) have faced unprecedented delays, and major retailers have struggled to keep inventory stocked. As a result, customers have had to increase their comparison shopping efforts to find ways to purchase the products they need and receive them promptly.
Time will tell whether these trends will have lasting effects on future purchasing habits, but sellers can certainly benefit from diversifying their sales presence in the short term. If you can fulfill and ship your own orders, eBay is a solid option for reaching your customers and possibly attracting new ones from its pool of over 180 million shoppers.
Promotional offers or not, there has never been a better time to step up your business’s online presence. Whether you are just getting started in online sales or are looking to take your ecommerce business to the next level, Descartes Sellercloud’s all-in-one ecommerce platform offers a first-class eBay integration, making it easy to list products, manage payments, fulfill orders, and track inventory.
From there, it’s simple to grow your business by taking advantage of our countless ecommerce integrations to add new marketplaces and logistical partners to your online sales workflow.
Make Your Free Listings Count
You only get one chance at a first impression. The same goes for starting up an eBay Store. Sure, there is something to be said for learning as you go, but your reputation and rating as a seller are everything on eBay.
Customers on eBay tend to be increasingly skeptical when making purchases; unlike most other third-party marketplaces, eBay seller ratings are often heavily scrutinized by customers, often as much as or more so than the actual products themselves. This means early missteps in listing accuracy and/or fulfillment could result in weeks, months, or even years of effort to recover from negative feedback.
If you are new to eBay or are just returning to the marketplace after some time away, there are some key listing strategies that you need to be aware of:
Know What Can and Cannot Be Sold on eBay
Specific items are never permitted on the eBay marketplace, such as firearms, counterfeit goods, hazardous materials, or government-issued property.
Currently, additional types of products are being prohibited in an effort to prevent price-gouging, stockpiling, and fraud. These items include certain personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizing products, baby products, and personal hygiene items.
Sure Up Your Shipping Plans Before You List
One reason shoppers opt to click the buy button on certain eBay listings is the promised shipping costs and speeds. While it is easy to blame Amazon or Walmart for a flubbed or delayed fulfillment, eBay customers evaluate your business based on the entire transaction experience, end-to-end.
Poor ratings from a couple of dissatisfied customers can sink your eBay startup efforts quickly! Additionally, pay particular attention to whether or not you are equipped to fulfill international orders. Remember, eBay is a global marketplace.
If you decide to sell your products to international customers, you need to be sure that you can reliably and cost-effectively deliver those orders.
Take Advantage of eBay Aspects in Your Listings
Thankfully, Descartes Sellercloud’s full eBay integration API makes it easy to ensure that your listing accurately reflects what you are selling and is optimized to appear in potential customers’ searches. For more on eBay Aspects, read our full guide here.
It is not uncommon for eBay to offer promotions for new sellers, but the Up and Running campaign is undoubtedly its most generous to date. Don’t squander the opportunity to establish your business and avoid transaction fees by creating subpar listings or delivering subpar service.
Marketplace Diversity Has Never Been More Important
If you are a reputable seller with quality products and reliable fulfillment, there is likely a real potential for profit on eBay, whether during a promotional period or not. Even if you are currently enjoying success on other major marketplaces (like Amazon or Walmart) and/or doing solid business from your own ecommerce website, it is always a good idea to get your products in front of as many potential customers as possible.
If current events have taught us anything, it is that policies and circumstances can change in an instant. As such, over-relying on one or two sales channels can put your company at serious risk. While eBay makes it easy to add an eBay store to your selling repertoire with minimal cost or effort, Descartes Sellercloud makes it easy to position your eBay Store for success. Our platform allows you benefits such as:
- The ability to repurpose your existing listings and inventory workflows with eBay’s API.
- Reliable payment management and processing (including fee calculations, shipping costs, and all other cost of goods sold calculations) to ensure accurate profit and loss calculations on every order.
- Helpful product performance metrics to ensure that you are always listing your strongest products at competitive prices.
- End-to-end inventory management ensures that every product is properly stocked, picked, shipped, and received—even internationally.
- Native support for international eBay sites gives you the potential to reach an even greater number of customers with your products.
- Certified integrations with major shipping carriers allow you to fully utilize flexible fulfillment options.
Ultimately, the combination of eBay and Descartes Sellercloud means that you can watch your sales increase without increasing your stress levels.
Feel free to contact us directly for more information on how to get your eBay store up and running with the Descartes Sellercloud all-in-one ecommerce platform.
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