Ecommerce

Top 5 Selling Strategies to Get Ahead on eBay

By Tinuiti Team
ebay logo

*This article was written by Angelica Valentine, Marketing Manager at Wiser.


eBay is a massive marketplace that accounts for 19% of global ecommerce. With its 128 million active users as of 2013, sellers need to optimize their strategies to make sure that they get the most out of the giant opportunity in front of them.

From shipping policies to pricing, there are several strategies that can help sellers boost profit and sales. So what exactly do eBay sellers need to do?

Ebay strategy

Offer Free Shipping

It sounds costly, but I assure you it’s worth it. Paying for shipping is often a big deterrent for shoppers, as 56% abandon their carts

when faced with unexpected costs. On eBay in particular, 55% of sales between October and December 2013 provided free shipping. The best way for retailers of any size to make free shipping work is to offer it as an incentive to spend a little more. If the average customer spends $68 per order, offer free shipping on purchases over $75 to bump up your average order value.You’ll see that many shoppers will comply because 58% of shoppers make another purchase in order to qualify for free shipping.

Optimize Titles

Titles on eBay are not additional sales pitches. Their main responsibility is to provide the most important information in a concise format. Titles can only be up to 80 characters, so they need to include the top keywords that shoppers might use to search for that particular product. Many sellers choose to put size, color, material, model, and condition in the title to make clear to shoppers that it is the one they have been looking for.

Ebay marketplace

Use a Rich Description

After your title has successfully attracted shoppers, your product description must seal the deal. Make it accurate, concise, and use bullet points to make the text more readable. Including a subtitle is something to consider because products with subtitles had pageviews that were 26% higher than those without. The only issue is that subtitles carry an extra fee for each time the item is listed. If the benefits outweigh the cost, then make this a part of your ongoing eBay strategy.

Price Effectively

Pricing matters. A lot. In fact, 84% of shoppers cited price as the biggest influence on their purchasing decision. The best pricing strategies focus on top competitors to see how your pricing stacks up. These top rated sellers often have fluctuating pricing. Maybe due to limited time promotions, maybe because they use a pricing automation engine. Regardless, the market is never stagnant and yours shouldn’t be either.

Dynamic pricing is the latest and greatest pricing strategy for online retailers of all sizes because it allows them to automatically update prices based on competitor pricing, traffic, and more. It is defined as a tactic to boost profit and revenue that features price fluctuations based on external and internal factors.

Psychology is half of pricing. Ways to do this include using 9s (charm pricing), relative pricing, and more. Strike-through pricing (STP) is a great example of how relative pricing works on eBay. Having the slashed price as an anchor makes the new one more appealing. It triggers the part of the brain that says “wow, this is a deal. I have to buy this!” After all, 73% of shoppers are swayed by discounts. Make sure you take advantage of STP on eBay to convert more shoppers into customers.

Provide Clear Images

Clear images are a great way to turn a reluctant shopper into a customer. A rule of thumb is to provide fives images or more, when possible. Sellers with two images are 7% more likely to successfully move products, compared to sellers with just one image. This percentage increases by 3% for each additional image. However, not just any image will do. Sizing is important for images on eBay. They must be at least 500 pixels for the longest side and be high quality. This ensures that the resolution will hold up when shoppers zoom in. eBay estimates that “Listings with better photo quality are 5% more likely to sell.”

Selling on eBay presents a great opportunity to retailers because of the sheer size of the marketplace. With these tips in action, sellers can enjoy the benefit of increased sales and profit. A little optimization can go a long way.

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