It’s often said that the internet has completely revolutionized the way we buy goods and services, and this is really no exaggeration. The dawn of the internet age has provided customers around the world with immense choice when it comes to retail. Of course, businesses which fail to establish themselves online run the risk of losing ground to competitors – and with competition so intense, it’s essential that you work out a coherent online strategy. As the world’s largest online marketplace, eBay offers a great way for businesses to attract new customers and build a sizeable web presence.

What eBay can offer your business

If you’ve used eBay yourself in the past, you’ll probably have already noticed that it’s often used by sole traders and enthusiastic amateurs looking to sell arts and crafts. However, eBay also has plenty to offer more established businesses looking to make a first foray into the online arena or seeking to broaden their online reach. Some businesses have adopted eBay with real enthusiasm, using it as their main online channel. Others are somewhat hesitant and tend to doubt whether eBay can really do anything for their brand. Both small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from adopting eBay.

Some businesses question whether eBay is compatible with their wider brand, but it’s worth remembering that the website offers opportunities to set up a branded presence. Among the options open to traders are HTML listings and dedicated eBay shops, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding something that’s right for your business. There’s also no escaping the fact that eBay is one of the world’s most popular websites – millions of people regularly use the marketplace to buy and sell items, so there’s a potentially massive audience there for your business. By failing to make the most of this opportunity, you could be putting yourself at a disadvantage in comparison to your more flexible rivals.

Furthermore, eBay offers a useful channel for selling distressed stock. It can sometimes be difficult for retailers to find ways of selling stock which is perhaps not in optimum condition. Selling this stock via eBay could be the best option all round – many traders find that selling distressed stock via eBay rakes in far more money than selling it via other channels. Naturally, eBay is something of a haven for bargain-hunters and so you should be able to find willing buyers.

Engaging with customers

One of the most important things to remember about doing business online is that it’s a two-way process – trading on the internet enables businesses to engage with customers in a way that perhaps they couldn’t before. Customer feedback can help you adjust and tailor your offering according to what consumers actually want from it, so it’s essential that you pay attention to what people are telling you. Furthermore, positive feedback can help you gain a good reputation among customers. It’s worth bearing in mind that eBay’s feedback system can be of particular use here – the website has a trading history for every member, so positive feedback can help to reassure potential customers that they’re dealing with a reputable trader.

eBay offers a vital opportunity – but don’t rush in

As eBay is so popular, it provides traders with the opportunity to reach millions of people at minimum expense. As such, it would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunities the website offers. You can use eBay to build real relationships with customers, too – you’ll probably find that the same people, once they know they can trust you to deliver the goods, will keep coming back time and time again. But it’s absolutely crucial that you give careful consideration to what it is you’re offering, and that you continue to review the way you do business along the way. Being able to adapt according to changing consumer demands could hold the key to success and longevity in trading on eBay.

Author Bio

Guest post contributed by Lauren Belfield. Lauren is a 26 year old who is passionate about giving advice on how to sell online, especially with the likes of eBay & Etsy. She currently lives in Manchester, working for Parcel2Go UK Couriers.

We’ll it’s February tomorrow peeps. Where the hell did January go?!

I hope your sticking to your 2013 plans and have reached your targets for January.  If not, have a look at what you haven’t done  (if it’s not important scrap it) and get it finished in February

One thing I’ve been concentrating on this month has been finishing my eBay store’s so that they can just run in the background and then I can kick on with my product creation. It can be time consuming getting everything complete on time.  This time round I mind mapped the whole thing out with particular emphasis on the product, the pricing, the niche and the marketing set up.

I want my stores to incorporate my Automatic Auction Traffic philosophy but with more improvements.  So I’m just testing everything at the moment.  I’m breathing new life into them hoping I can get to Top Rate Seller status sooner rather than later.

While it is possible to earn a full time living on eBay, it is a mistake to depend solely on eBay for your income. You could be using your eBay auctions to generate a huge amount of business for other products and services! Many people, however, fail to fully utilize eBay’s resources to this end.

eBay has over 100 million members, and they gained those members by continually running major marketing campaigns. Essentially, they do your marketing for you. But you have to help yourself as well. The key is to drive people to your auction page, which in turn can be used to drive traffic to your website.

You can sell many different items on your website, including items that are up for auction at eBay! This is a fabulous way to earn income that does not rely on eBay auctions. You can easily accept website payments with a Paypal account, so there is no need for an expensive merchant account!

You are not allowed to include the website address of an outside website on your auctions – you are, however, perfectly welcome to place a link to your website on your eBay ‘About Me’ page. Invite your bidders and potential bidders to view your about me page, and watch the website traffic roll in!

This one strategy can be amazing but only if you have a website that sells the same kind of products as your store.  And keep them at a similar price if they are the same product because customers will question why your products are cheaper on your site.

The key here is to sell lower end items on eBay, direct them to your website where you have your higher end products placed. The great thing about making sales on your site is that you are not paying the additional eBay fees.

Hope this tip helped and this is something you can use to your advantage.

Thanks for reading.

James

Hi everyone, hope you are well and 2012 has been a good year for you.

I’m writing this after a shed load of drink, so if there iz any misdakes ids the vine…

Here’s a quick review of my building for the year and stuff that I’ve done to push my online business on.

Then some special mentions for people that have helped me out this year.

- Created an eBay product offer for Jim Cockrum’s mysilentteam.com

- Launched 1 Day Info Product  

- Launched Clickbank Roadmap

- Launched Online Kindle Profits

Got involved in some big launches helping some top marketers and good buddies,

• Dan Sumner, Bloggers Road Map
• Omar Martin, Buzzinar
• John Thornhill. Simple Traffic Solutions
• Wrote my first book Auction Profit Theory, coming soon on Amazon.
• Created 9 eBay DVD products with Auction Kommando Oliver Goehler. Available in the UK 2013.

Started the Inner Circle ‘Info Warriors‘ via Facebook which currently has 30 experienced marketers and newbies.

I didn’t reach all of my targets set at the beginning of the year, one of my main goals was to build one of my eBay stores back up to powerseller status but having been mega busy with product creation and growing my subscriber list, I struggled to get this off the ground.  This is one of my priorities for 2013!

My 3 main targets are to:

1. Build 100 active online sales funnels.
2. Launch my new eBay product and Membership site.
3. Get my subscriber list to 10,000 by the end of 2013.

It’s going to be full on, but I’m ready for the challenge

Enough about my stuff, here’s the magic list of people that have helped me and I’ve gotten to know Direct and Indirectly.

• Jim Cockrum
• Dan Sumner
• John Thornhill
• Omar Martin
• Michael Cheney
• Roger Weavers
• Dean Thompson