( 
)Opening an ebay store is like making a cake. You get the materials through Ebay, and you start to make your store 'cake'. After you make it regarding to your basic recipe and you taste it, you found the mistake. Hmm, I guess I need more sugar, you think. Next time you made it, you found that the cake need more vanilla, and so on.
During my experience in opening an ebay store, I found some basic things to be included in my recipe. It is not a perfect one, and my store isn't the best store too, but I want to share it to other people, so we can enjoy our ebay store together, and of course, make a good cake for our buyer :)
1) Look around
Use some of your time to read ALL ebay pages about store and auction. As a beginner, I tried to read it all. I know in the beginning, we usually feel so happy and can't wait to make our first step, but I guarantee, that this is the first step that you need. Ebay have almost all the things that you needed to make your store easy to be maintained, which will help you a lot as a beginner. So turn your head around, and read it! I find a lot of helpful features from ebay, check out the Best Offer feature, Ebay Keyword, Sales Report Plus, and many others!!
2) Make your store beautiful and comfortable
When I said beautiful, I don't mean to make the store full of decorative and many other meaningless things. Just make it nice to see, so that the buyer can enjoy their time browsing your store. As to me, I always pick to buy stuff from a store that is neat and comfortable to use. Who wants to be in a mess-up store?
3) Put your attention on the little details
Sometimes, when I want to buy something in Ebay, I found interesting items and prizes, but too bad, the seller didn't give the details of the items so that I pass on that item. Shipping fees, condition of the items, all the details that you can put, PUT IT ( well, in a clear and brief explanation too, of course ). I think it will encourage the buyer more if he/she knows the item well, right???
4) Clear pictures
Take the pictures of your items clearly and nicely! I always try to make my pictures clear and show the details, since I have a bad experience with blur picture. With the clear pictures, people can see the good things from the items, but of course, it will show the bad side of your item too, but is it the true condition of the item, right? It's better than getting a complaint from a buyer when he/she received it, and in this way, you will loose trust from your buyers.
5) Consider your customers as your friends
This is the one key that I always try to maintain since I opened an Ebay store. Be friendly, and you will get a very nice response too. Everybody like good customer service right??
I always appreciate seller who take some of his/her time to be friendly with us, even through words only.
6) Ask the customers to give comments to your items/store
Inputs, are always needed if you want to make a great items, and STORE. I personally doubt it if you can make a perfect store or item in one step. There's always a minus, and that minus is discovered by some people. In my experience, some people will think this as a spam, but many people give their opinion too, and this inputs make our ability improve.
7) Say the truth to your buyer
Never say any lies to buyer, about items conditions, about the shipment, etc. People will appreciate it if you said the truth. When I was unable to ship the items right away because I joined the Knit and Crochet Show, I kinda afraid too, to tell to my buyer that there's a shipment delay, but I embrace myself. And the result.. all of them kindly understood. I was really suprised and so happy about it. No matter what, truth is always worth it.
8) Use the right keyword!
This is important! Basically, you will have to look out for the right keyword that describes your item well. Use the keyword in Ebay Keyword, and I found a little trick to make your ebay visibility increase. As example, I saw a used cellphone at when I was trying to find new cellphone on ebay. A lot of people put "NOT NEW" words at the title, so that if people type new cellphone, his item are shown as well. This is the same thing that you have to try in order to make your item becoming more visible!
9) Don't put a high price on the auction!
In the auction, you need to give the lowest price that you can get. I know sometimes it hurts to put the price that don't equal to the value of the items, but that's auction!! You need to make the customer feel confident to bid. But in store, you can put the high price, and put the best offer feature on it.
Well, I think that's all I can write!! But relax, if your items are good and nice, slowly but sure, your store will be popular too, because the most effective marketing is from mouth to mouth. People who feels satisfied with your service will go back for more.
So the basic things that you need is know your market and how to deal with them!
I hope your store will be succesful, and I hope mine too :) Feel free to share your experience and quuestion to us, Dodo's Design!
1) Look around
Use some of your time to read ALL ebay pages about store and auction. As a beginner, I tried to read it all. I know in the beginning, we usually feel so happy and can't wait to make our first step, but I guarantee, that this is the first step that you need. Ebay have almost all the things that you needed to make your store easy to be maintained, which will help you a lot as a beginner. So turn your head around, and read it! I find a lot of helpful features from ebay, check out the Best Offer feature, Ebay Keyword, Sales Report Plus, and many others!!
2) Make your store beautiful and comfortable
When I said beautiful, I don't mean to make the store full of decorative and many other meaningless things. Just make it nice to see, so that the buyer can enjoy their time browsing your store. As to me, I always pick to buy stuff from a store that is neat and comfortable to use. Who wants to be in a mess-up store?
3) Put your attention on the little details
Sometimes, when I want to buy something in Ebay, I found interesting items and prizes, but too bad, the seller didn't give the details of the items so that I pass on that item. Shipping fees, condition of the items, all the details that you can put, PUT IT ( well, in a clear and brief explanation too, of course ). I think it will encourage the buyer more if he/she knows the item well, right???
4) Clear pictures
Take the pictures of your items clearly and nicely! I always try to make my pictures clear and show the details, since I have a bad experience with blur picture. With the clear pictures, people can see the good things from the items, but of course, it will show the bad side of your item too, but is it the true condition of the item, right? It's better than getting a complaint from a buyer when he/she received it, and in this way, you will loose trust from your buyers.
5) Consider your customers as your friends
This is the one key that I always try to maintain since I opened an Ebay store. Be friendly, and you will get a very nice response too. Everybody like good customer service right??
I always appreciate seller who take some of his/her time to be friendly with us, even through words only.
6) Ask the customers to give comments to your items/store
Inputs, are always needed if you want to make a great items, and STORE. I personally doubt it if you can make a perfect store or item in one step. There's always a minus, and that minus is discovered by some people. In my experience, some people will think this as a spam, but many people give their opinion too, and this inputs make our ability improve.
7) Say the truth to your buyer
Never say any lies to buyer, about items conditions, about the shipment, etc. People will appreciate it if you said the truth. When I was unable to ship the items right away because I joined the Knit and Crochet Show, I kinda afraid too, to tell to my buyer that there's a shipment delay, but I embrace myself. And the result.. all of them kindly understood. I was really suprised and so happy about it. No matter what, truth is always worth it.
8) Use the right keyword!
This is important! Basically, you will have to look out for the right keyword that describes your item well. Use the keyword in Ebay Keyword, and I found a little trick to make your ebay visibility increase. As example, I saw a used cellphone at when I was trying to find new cellphone on ebay. A lot of people put "NOT NEW" words at the title, so that if people type new cellphone, his item are shown as well. This is the same thing that you have to try in order to make your item becoming more visible!
9) Don't put a high price on the auction!
In the auction, you need to give the lowest price that you can get. I know sometimes it hurts to put the price that don't equal to the value of the items, but that's auction!! You need to make the customer feel confident to bid. But in store, you can put the high price, and put the best offer feature on it.
Well, I think that's all I can write!! But relax, if your items are good and nice, slowly but sure, your store will be popular too, because the most effective marketing is from mouth to mouth. People who feels satisfied with your service will go back for more.
So the basic things that you need is know your market and how to deal with them!
I hope your store will be succesful, and I hope mine too :) Feel free to share your experience and quuestion to us, Dodo's Design!
Guide created: 18/05/06 (updated 11/05/09)
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