Making Money on eBay

There are different ways organizations market themselves. But when you ask eBay about their promotional strategies, they only have one thing to say – Search any product on the portal, and you’ll find it available. It claims that every two seconds a pair of shoes, every four seconds a cell phone and every six seconds a lady’s handbag is sold on the ecommerce goliath. It has around 171 million active buyers worldwide. And with such a big market the website has a strong potential which is looked upon by new entrants or small players opportunistically. Therefore, here is a guide to making good money on eBay at the behest of keeping buyers engaged and demanding for more.

Be a seller – sell a product by registering on the eBay website

The basic idea of eBay is to connect buyers to sellers and with the intention of making money on the portal, one must subscribe to its services. There are plans which enable an individual to subscribe to the website both for free and paid. A free subscription allows you to list a maximum of 50 products on the portal for free, post which, incremental listing charges are put on. In this plan, 10% fee is charged as commission by eBay on all final sales. On the contrary, for those individuals or business which have a portfolio of more than 50 products and bank on economies of scale they can choose one of the 3 payment plans which enable listings between 450 – 2500 per month and commission charged ranges between 9% to 4% respectively.

Individuals start out with a free account and then slowly as their portfolios are increasing, they also increase their listings.

Research drives success and wins against competitors

Given the extent to which eBay’s market runs, there is a chance that your product is being sold by other sellers and therefore it requires for a thorough quality/price check in order to beat the competition at sales. Assuming two Adidas F50 shoes are being sold by two different sellers. Pricing the product close to the competitor is required because pricing can influence buyers to move towards the lowest ask price. Similarly, a good marketing via content or videos can influence buyers regarding the quality of the product on offer. Therefore, proper research is required to understand the point of parity and the point of difference governing the sale of a product.

Research regarding competitors is driving sales all the way and therefore is a must.

Understanding selling options

eBay offers a wide variety of products to be sold. It also offers a wide variety of manners in which these products can be sold. Selling options vary between auctioning, buy it now, Reserve and Best offer which gives a listing period of 3,5,7 or more days and enable people to bid accordingly.

If it is unlikely that the product would be sold instantaneously and therefore it is important to use a longer listing period. These strategies must be formulated in order to ensure that products are being sold in recurrence and in regular intervals.

Therefore, eBay leaves an open goal and a gold mine for individuals to explore and enhance their product portfolios while buyers explore the number of sellers and a perfect competition scenario to pick the cheapest source of their product in need. eBay accords a huge marketplace for new players in the business and can earn individuals a lump sum given the marketing and branding is done properly. So what is the wait for?