Over a billion buyers and sellers use eBay every day. You can also make money this way – regardless of whether you work from home and invest very little money or if you are a reseller selling many products.
With over 5 billion items sold on eBay each year, the business opportunities are practically endless. This guide will provide you with information about how to successfully start an eBay business.
How To Sell On eBay in 2024?
Why Sell on eBay?
Around the world, there are 182 million eBay buyers.
On any given day, it has approximately 1.3 billion product listings, making it one of the largest online marketplaces in the world.
Who is Selling on eBay?
There are several types of eBay sellers. Your newbies or amateur resellers set a fixed price for a few items, then you have your PowerSellers. It is a professional seller’s task to purchase items, package products, ship and receive goods, and manage auctions on their own.
First of all, what products do I want to sell? Often people just throw stuff away if they no longer have any use for it.
However, there might be someone else out there that would find this item very useful and convenient. Before you take up these perfectly good items from the free section at Goodwill, consider whether you can sell it on Ebay first.
For example, if you have an old bicycle that you don’t need anymore, why not sell it on eBay? You can even use the money to purchase another item you were looking for.
With eBay, newbies and power sellers alike can flourish in the secondhand economy, exposing their products to a global audience.
What Should You Sell On eBay?
eBay performs particularly well in the following categories:
- Parts for autos,
- Used goods, as well as
- Closeouts.
Other eBay sellers follow the trends, selling what is popular at the time. Some eBay sellers focus on a niche product. Doing your research is essential.
Discover what’s trending.
You can find out what’s trending on eBay to see what’s hot in the marketplace. Check out what buyers are searching for on eBay with this tool.
In addition to Google Trends, you can also perform historical research on seasonal trends. Your product can be listed and sold at the best time based on consumer demand.
Take the case of a business that sells snowboards and snowboard accessories, for example. In late November and early December, you can find a spike in snowboard searches on Google Trends.
Price your products.
You’ll need to do your homework and price your items competitively once you’ve decided what you want to sell. With the eBay appraisal tool, you can find out what an item’s value or trending price is within a specific category.
eBay Selling Format
Auctions were the basis for eBay’s launch in 1995, when it was a true peer-to-peer marketplace. But as eBay evolved, the “buy it now” feature became an alternative to auctions.
The selling method that is best suited to your business depends greatly on its individual characteristics. Each method has pros and cons.
Auction-style selling.
Due to its auction-style sales, eBay rose to fame. An auction lasts for a specific amount of time. An auction begins with a starting bid, and then the buyers bid upwards from that price. In the end, the high bidder wins the auction.
Someone like Video Game Vince can do well with this type of selling because he deals in unique, collectible items. There will be a frenzy of bidding for comic book collectors, so Vince will make a tidy profit from the sale.
Tip: Set a reserve price – that is, the lowest price you will accept for the item. You can ensure that the item isn’t sold before it is worth the price you believe it is worth.
Fixed-price listings.
In this method of selling, the seller declares a fixed price for the item and proceeds with the transaction.
The exact price of the item can be seen up front on eBay, so bidders need not place a bid. Due to its efficiency and convenience, you don’t have to haggle or wait for an auction to end.
Creating eBay product descriptions
Keywords are used by eBay shoppers to find products on the site. If you include relevant keyword identifiers in your product description, you can optimize it.
Describe your products in detail by including the following attributes:
- Brand.
- Style or model.
- Model number.
- Color .
- Size.
Your product attributes should be structured the same way as the words and phrases users type in to search eBay.
Also, you should be completely forthcoming about any defects the product may have, including any problems regarding the product.
I would like to add the following information:
- What are the dimensions of this item?
- Battery power is required; are batteries included?
- What are the included accessories?
Product identifiers.
You can increase the visibility of your items by using product identifiers in your listings, which will in turn help optimize your sales.
During the search process, search engines such as Google and Bing look for certain information called product identifiers. In some categories like consumer electronics and health and beauty, eBay requires product identifiers when listing branded items in new or refurbished condition.
There are three elements that make up product identifiers:
- The brand.
- Manufacturer Part Number (MPN).
- Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). There are several types of GTINs, including Universal Product Code (UPC), Japanese Article Number (JAN), European Article Number (EAN) or International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
Buyers can easily find items via eBay’s product identifiers during a search. Your product will receive higher search visibility – both on eBay and outside search engines – if you include product identifiers in your listings.
In addition, your listings will be eligible for special price alerts (e.g., when they are below the trending price) and participate in more promotions and deals.
By adding product identifiers, you can maximize your sales on eBay by improving your product placement and providing search engines with better SEO data.
Guidelines for product attributes.
A product’s attributes include its brand name, style, size, and color. Product attributes are often referred to by the term “specs” or “specifications.”.
Each category on eBay has a set of specific items. The attributes of a product are calculated by mapping the specifications of the product against the eBay category attributes.
When providing very detailed item specifications, search engines can locate and filter items using structured data. Users will therefore see more relevant search results depending on what they type in their search query.
Product dimensions.
Include the item’s dimensions, if applicable. Not the packaging size, but the product dimensions should be provided.
Multi-packs and bundled products.
Remember the following details when creating a manufacturer-created bundle or multi-pack:
- Product identifiers assigned by the manufacturer to the bundle should be included in the attributes of the bundled product.
- GTINs for bundled products should be assigned to the manufacturer. Avoid using the GTIN of the bundle or the base product.
- Identifiers assigned to a multi-pack by the manufacturer must be listed in its attributes.
- Multipack attributes must include the GTIN of the specific multipack.
Product variants.
A final tip is to use a single page for product variants instead of multiple pages. It has been observed that eBay is starting to group products by GTIN, so you will need to take this factor into account more and more in your set up.
Managing Your Product Listings
Once you have decided to list your products on eBay, how should you manage them?
Spreadsheets would be useful if you have only a few items listed, like eBay Ellen. The spreadsheet, however, will be unwieldy and complicated if you have thousands, millions, or even billions of products.
A feed management platform can be used in conjunction with an ecommerce platform such as BigCommerce to make listing management much easier.
When considering selling on eBay, many merchants wonder if they can utilize their existing Google Shopping product feed.
Depending on your ecommerce platform of choice, feed management platforms can convert your existing product feed into the format eBay requires.
Managing Your eBay Orders
Your orders must be carefully managed and your inventory must be closely monitored. On your website, you should never list items that are out of stock.
Your online store is updated with orders via feed management platforms. If you have a low inventory of an item on multiple platforms, it’s critical to keep everything in sync with the shortest possible lag times.
Here are some examples of how a feed management platform may be useful:
Two marketplaces needed to be managed for a client: eBay and Amazon.
Client was running low on stock for multiple products, and wanted to avoid overselling – which could get them suspended from eBay.
eBay Best Practices
You should follow these best practices on any marketplace and on your e-commerce website, too. Nevertheless, these factors are particularly important on eBay, since you’ll need to stand out from competitors that also sell there.
The best time to start an ebay business is during periods of economic uncertainty. While everyone else is too afraid to buy anything, sellers are making bank because people still want to buy convenient items to make their lives easier.
Ebay can actually be a way for people living in areas hit by disaster or poverty to rebuild their life and provide themselves with more opportunities for employment.
Fashion trends constantly change so once your wardrobe starts expanding beyond control, it’s best to thin out what doesn’t belong any longer. The key here is finding everyday items at a low price with a high demand.
Building up positive seller feedback is what will enable you to sell your products more easily.
Positive feedback means that previous buyers have been satisfied with the product and service they received from the seller, so they wouldn’t mind working with them again in the future.
High-quality photography.
The best way to make your products stand out is by taking high-resolution photos against a white background. Use sufficient lighting to show off all the details of the product.
To highlight details, take shots of your product from varying angles. Take some close-up shots as well. Avoid using props, because they will only distract shoppers.
Fast, low-cost shipping.
The top priorities for eBay buyers are price and speed. Free shipping is more commonly requested by buyers as their expectations have grown.
Fun fact: eBay marketplace products are shipped free in 71% of cases.
Make your shipping prices competitive (low-cost or free shipping is best) so you can attract more buyers and increase your chances of selling.
Free returns.
Among the five return policies offered by eBay, you have the following options:
- No returns accepted.
- 30-day buyer-paid returns.
- 30-day free returns.
- 60-day free returns.
- 60-day buyer-paid returns.
Free returns are the best return policy for eBay buyers, as it goes without saying.
Strong customer service.
Reviews are in – literally and figuratively! Maintaining good standing with your customers is the best way to prevent bad eBay reviews.
Quick Links
- How To Find Profitable Products To Sell On Amazon
- How To Become An Amazon Reseller
- How To Start An Amazon FBA Business With Little Money
Conclusion How To Sell On ebay? 2024
In order to maximize the potential of your ecommerce store on eBay, you must do the research, put in the work, and be patient.
There is nothing quite like eBay, which offers the variety and breadth of products unlike any other marketplace, allowing sellers the chance to sell products that can’t be found anywhere else.
What is the best fit for you on eBay?
