eBay Shop
- Thread starter LewisE12
- Start date
The platform is fine, it's changed over the years away from auction towards fixed price however. It really depends on the product you sell and your customer service as to whether you succeed or not. There's also been many success stories where retailers that started on Ebay have gone on to bigger and better things.
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C
cautiouscapy
I started without an eBay "shop", specifically - I just registered as a Business Seller.
Fees are a little higher but it's effectively "Pay as You Go" which may be suitable when you are starting out. Depends on how many product lines you have, and whether you have a definite plan/strategy or are just testing the water.
I've just opened a Basic Shop as eBay offered me a promotional 3-months-free deal. I'm not sure if it will make a difference to my sales, but the tools for managing your sales are little whizzier which should make growth easier to handle.
You can't list as "Good 'til Cancelled" until you have a shop, 30-day listings are your limit.
There are plenty of "gurus" offering information about how to make your living on eBay - most of them offer free materials, read/watch these for lots of tips; there is no need to pay for the information though.
Fees are a little higher but it's effectively "Pay as You Go" which may be suitable when you are starting out. Depends on how many product lines you have, and whether you have a definite plan/strategy or are just testing the water.
I've just opened a Basic Shop as eBay offered me a promotional 3-months-free deal. I'm not sure if it will make a difference to my sales, but the tools for managing your sales are little whizzier which should make growth easier to handle.
You can't list as "Good 'til Cancelled" until you have a shop, 30-day listings are your limit.
There are plenty of "gurus" offering information about how to make your living on eBay - most of them offer free materials, read/watch these for lots of tips; there is no need to pay for the information though.
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- Original Poster
- #4
Thanks for the reply!, I have started selling on eBay but not registered as a shop yet as i'm trying to build my feedback up first before starting the shop.
To be honest i'm just going to be testing the water at first and when I start to see what products are selling then I will be more serious about the plan/strategy as I have had mixed reviews from people about opening a shop on eBay.
To be honest i'm just going to be testing the water at first and when I start to see what products are selling then I will be more serious about the plan/strategy as I have had mixed reviews from people about opening a shop on eBay.
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Here are a few tips
1. research your product, it helps if it's something you know a lot about as this gives you an edge
2. don't assume that because someone else sells it for a certain price that you can. Top rated sellers will always sell a lot more of a product than you will starting out even if you're selling it at half the price.
3. try and have everything in keeping with your store, don't be the home bargains of ebay, I am not knocking sellers who sells 1000's of different item's but it makes business more difficult and you want to be known for a certain type of thing.
4. make sure from day 1 you run like clockwork. for instance you products are organised to enable fast despatch. you despatch items quickly and reply to questions asap.
ebay can be a fantastic platform for selling but they have you by the balls, they will make you jump through hopes and it is seriously in favour of the buyer now, be aware of distance selling regulations (you CANNOT make up your own terms and condition it's the law) small businesses sometimes can't cover the costs at first because you HAVE to accept returns (only if you sell at a buy it now price, this does not cover auctions) you HAVE to refund their shipping costs so bear this in mind.
I am not trying to put you off, I actually encourage you to do it, I started buying a few bits second hand for a month or so and selling them on ebay to top up my wage, 2 months in I thought this could pay more than my actual job so i invested £300 in stock. this was 9 years ago and for the first 5 years i earnt not a bad wage of around 15-17 grand a year but i was hardly working and decided it's time to up the game and make it a full time job, I registered as a company and haven't looked back. From the initial investment of £300 we are now currently looking to break the 200k turnover mark with a very healthy profit margin
Good luck.
1. research your product, it helps if it's something you know a lot about as this gives you an edge
2. don't assume that because someone else sells it for a certain price that you can. Top rated sellers will always sell a lot more of a product than you will starting out even if you're selling it at half the price.
3. try and have everything in keeping with your store, don't be the home bargains of ebay, I am not knocking sellers who sells 1000's of different item's but it makes business more difficult and you want to be known for a certain type of thing.
4. make sure from day 1 you run like clockwork. for instance you products are organised to enable fast despatch. you despatch items quickly and reply to questions asap.
ebay can be a fantastic platform for selling but they have you by the balls, they will make you jump through hopes and it is seriously in favour of the buyer now, be aware of distance selling regulations (you CANNOT make up your own terms and condition it's the law) small businesses sometimes can't cover the costs at first because you HAVE to accept returns (only if you sell at a buy it now price, this does not cover auctions) you HAVE to refund their shipping costs so bear this in mind.
I am not trying to put you off, I actually encourage you to do it, I started buying a few bits second hand for a month or so and selling them on ebay to top up my wage, 2 months in I thought this could pay more than my actual job so i invested £300 in stock. this was 9 years ago and for the first 5 years i earnt not a bad wage of around 15-17 grand a year but i was hardly working and decided it's time to up the game and make it a full time job, I registered as a company and haven't looked back. From the initial investment of £300 we are now currently looking to break the 200k turnover mark with a very healthy profit margin
Good luck.
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