Advice needed on an eBay store

[Dave Hybrid]

Hello all,

My mum runs an ebay store which is fairly successful.

I have recently setup a very basic webpage to help make her operation look more professional and it has really helped in increasing turnover.

There is a link to her eBay store on this site > www.jules-boutique.co.uk (http://www.jules-boutique.co.uk)

From the statistics for her site, 500 unique people are hitting the site daily, this is all coming from eBays About ME page so there may be even more than this actually viewing her listings and also as all the people are coming from the About ME page they must already be pretty interested in her products.

The question I have is how can I help her increase conversion, currently she sells around 350 items per month, which, considering she gets 15,000 unique visitors per month is pretty poor in my eyes.

Thanks,

Dave.

[Red Ant Electronics]

I wouldn't say a 2% conversion is that bad. Work on increasing traffic so that 2% is worth more conversions.

[Dave Hybrid]

Its simple to increase traffic with eBay, just list more items but the problem she has is listing more items would take considerable extra time (she already works on this full time). If it was possible to make the most of the current visitors that would mean an increase in income without having to spend too much extra time running the shop as packaging the items is a fairly quick process.

[She Says]

Does your mum have a newsletter? Perhaps you could put a newsletter sign up thing on the webpage and offer an incentive for people to sign up. Then send regular emails with offers, new products 'just in' etc
What about a short survey on the webpage to get an idea of your mum's customers and potential customers, what they want to see etc
Could she do 'bundle' offers to make it easier and quicker for buyers and increase sales. Also has she signed up for ebay express?
hth
Sharon xx

[Dave Hybrid]

Yes she uses the paypal email addresses and makes her own mailing list.

Not sure on the eBay express...

[Matt1959]

I'm interested in this topic as I will soon be making use of Ebay/ ME page/ Ebay shop/ link to website. For me this combination of oppourtunity to advertise a product is great (borne out by your traffic figures) and relatively it costs peanuts. However in my humble opinion your not making the best of whats there. The ME page isn't enough about you and the web page just sort of repeats what people already know from looking at the ME page and your shop, so I think your wasting all those oppourtunities to try and persuade more people to order;)

[Dave Hybrid]

I agree, the point of my post is that I'm aware we're wasting the opportunity, but we're not sure how to approach changing that.

[Matt1959]

well all I can say that if it was me, the first thing I'd do is a good ME page. Some personal touchy feely stuff, maybe a pic of the owner, bit of background, why you love selling what you do, why you love ebay, how the business is a challenge, what the future holds business wise. Make it animated and make people get to know you a bit. If you trawl Ebay, theres some brilliant ME pages out there. With the website, I think I'd just make it more informative regarding the business and the products in much the same way as if you relied on a website only.

I've personally done the ME spage stuff in the past and I'm 100% sure a good one makes a big difference in getting people to deal with you. A mobile number is a good idea as well. For me, all this helps make people trust you and want to deal with you and with Ebay - trust is everything.

I must admit, those website visits come across as impressive to me. I think if I had 500 a day, I'd want to mention it somewhere as it perhaps makes people think that you are successful and that inspires confidence in your products.

I'm a big Ebay fan and currently buy there with good success also I have sold, again with great results. I don't think alot of Ebayers make the best of whats available to them.

[Matt1959]

For a good ME page on Ebay search for member gotusthelotus and click on his ME page (no its not me!)

[cubzworld]

Does anyone know when Ebay Express is due to be launched?

I found one of our listings by accident on google http://item.express.ebay.co.uk/Baby-Nursery_Baby-Travel_Pushchairs-Prams_FIRST-WHEELS-CITY-TWIN-STROLLER-IN-BLACK-BN-FREE-P-P_W0QQitemZ190036222572QQihZ009QQptdnZPushchairsQ2 0Q26Q20PramsQQddnZBabyQ20Q26Q20NurseryQQadnZBabyQ2 0TravelQQcmdZExpressItem

All looks quite good - I think this is just a trial web address for them so I suspect it won't be too long before release. We don't do much on Ebay at the moment, all a bit too much hard work but if this takes off we may consider it more.

Tracy

[Malcolm Cooper]

According to an article in the Sunday Times eBay Express is due for launch in a week or so. I'm registered but I've yet to receive any notification from them.

[shopdesigners_ecommerce]

If i was in your position i would invest in an independant store and offer free shipping and/or other special offers if purchases are made dirctly from the website. Then you will instantly start increasing your profits by reducing overheads.

Tony.