How To Sell More On Ebay

By Angus  |  8 Dec 2014 11:00:00

Why eBay Merchants Should Have Their Own Website

At Sellr we regularly speak to eBay merchants who are considering starting their own website. Some are looking to increase their market presence and start developing a brand whilst maintaining the consistent business eBay brings them. Others are looking to leave eBay for good due to inhibitive seller fees and a perceived lack of seller protection.

In this post I am going to run through some of the main reasons why as an eBay merchant you should definitely have a personal website if you don’t already.

Credibility

Even with a custom eBay store, (something which you can expect to pay significantly more for than a template based website), you are still limited in how you are able to present yourself to potential customers.

Simply by linking to your website from your About Me page on eBay gives you an advantage over other sellers, allowing you to demonstrate professionalism and initiate communications outside of the product focussed confines of eBay.

If you are selling a product that is readily available on eBay, your own website can lead to higher bids on your items and unsuccessful bidders visiting your website and potentially becoming customers this way.

Control

It is important not to forget that eBay’s priorities are in the following order. Shareholders, buyers and then last but not least, sellers. Despite the fees they receive from you, the reality is that they have no loyalty to you and can in theory end your business overnight. For this reason, even if you are currently making satisfactory sales through eBay, given how inexpensive ecommerce websites are these days it simply makes sense to diversify in this way.

Additional Sales Channel

In terms of the sheer number of prospects you will be able to attract to your listings, it is impossible to beat eBay unless you plan to spend a lot of money on PPC advertising. For this reason I would not encourage merchants to leave eBay for good until they have established acceptable sales from their website.

The best recommendation is to choose an ecommerce platform that integrates with your eBay store such as Sellr and to focus initially on converting eBay customers into repeat buyers through promotional codes that you send out with your products. You will find that you will often be able to sell for cheaper on your website and still make a higher profit margin per sale than on eBay.    

Rather than investing large sums of money straight away on a website and AdWords campaign, you should start by spending a modest amount as soon as possible, and view it as an additional sales channel to develop creatively over time.