Planning for Growth

Hello, once you’ve started selling on eBay, it’s important to start thinking about how to set up your business for long-term success. After watching this video, you’ll learn how to create a plan, workspace, and schedule to organise your goals and activities, Meet retail standards to deliver on customer expectations, Effectively manage your inventory, Assess your options for selling across multiple channels, And manage your eBay business with Seller Hub. To prepare for your growth on eBay, you’ll want to first set your business goals and then develop a plan to meet them. For example, if you’re simply looking to increase revenue, you could consider expanding your inventory with new products. If you want to test new products, you might develop some promotions to gauge customer interest.

00:44 - Or, if you have a brick and mortar store and are looking to liquidate older or seasonal inventory, you’ll need a process to track and move products from your shop to your eBay store. Your eBay business is open ²⁴⁄₇, so make time every day for listing, shipping, and responding to inquiries. If you also sell through a physical store or other channels, consider how to best balance your time across your businesses. You can also designate employees to handle some of the eBay activities. The eBay multi-user account access tool allows others to manage select selling functions on your behalf.

01:18 - Be sure to dedicate some time to regularly check your organisational systems and processes. Ultimately, this will help you save time and money by fulfilling orders efficiently and correctly. Today’s consumers have a lot of choices. To stay competitive, we recommend adopting a few service practices that many customers now expect: For starters, customers love free and fast shipping, so offer this service whenever you can. Offering 30-day returns is another appealing incentive to buyers and helps them feel confident in their purchases with you. It’s also important to give customers a great shopping experience. This begins with communication.

01:58 - When buyers have questions or issues, be sure to respond promptly, professionally and politely. We also encourage you to create an attractive, branded eBay store, so your customers can get a sense of your business’ unique story and value. Let’s talk a bit more about these important two retail practices… Communication is key to delivering great service and keeping customers happy, especially with an online business. When customers contact you with questions or concerns, be sure to respond within 24 hours.

02:28 - If any order or fulfillment issues arise, be proactive and let your buyers know. For example, reach out right away if: An ordered item is no longer available, There are handling delays with an order, Or there are updates to share regarding a return or refund request. If an issue arises with a buyer, use friendly language, avoid accusations, and be clear that you want to help. eBay can intervene if needed, but do your best to resolve it directly. To entice customers with a pleasant, branded shopping experience, you can make a few simple additions to your business’ profile page on eBay: A high quality banner with an eye-catching cover photo that captures the essence of your business.

03:08 - For best results, it should be 1200 pixels wide by 270 pixels tall. A logo, ideally with your company name. It should be 300 by 300 pixels for maximum visibility and impact, And a concise but friendly description about your business that explains why it’s special. The website displays the first 160 characters, so lead with impact. To create a more dynamic, branded shopping experience, consider an eBay Store subscription, which includes a customizable storefront homepage with: A Featured Items section Store categories to organise your merchandise And an optimised mobile shopping experience Store subscribers also benefit from: Discounts on fees and some free listings Premium marketing tools And access to powerful business insights to help you grow. You don’t need a store subscription to run your business on eBay, but it’s a good option to consider depending on the size and goals of your business. Now let’s talk about managing inventory.

04:07 - Knowing what you have and having enough on hand is critical to sustaining your business. Here are some tips to reduce inventory risks and ensure customer satisfaction: Create a custom SKU number for each item, Follow an order processing flow and use a software tool to track your products, Keep your inventory organised and conduct regular audits. Prepare a stock contingency plan to prevent any shortfalls or disruptions with your inventory And respond quickly to customers if an item is no longer available. If you sell on multiple platforms or are managing both digital and physical storefronts, there are various software tools available to help you coordinate your cross-channel operations and maximize profits. Provided by well-known companies, such as Shopify, ChannelAdvisor, and InkFrog, these tools assist eBay sellers with a variety of critical business functions, like order management, shipping and fulfillment logistics, advertising, accounting, reporting, and more.

05:04 - While you might not need these tools now, you may want to explore them as your business grows and operations become more complex. Finally, let’s take a look at Seller Hub Seller Hub is a free and powerful tool available to all eBay sellers. Your selling activities are all in one place to enable you to: Get a full view of your selling activity with a customised dashboard Manage orders from end-to-end Create and manage listings Access tools to promote your listings Analyse business performance with real-time data and insights View your payments and pay your fees And get personalised recommendations and pricing and inventory insights to help grow your business. Before we wrap up, let’s review some top tips to set your business up for success: Develop the right plan, space and schedule to achieve your eBay business goals. Put the right operational practices in place to satisfy today’s retail standards.

06:00 - Give customers a unique shopping experience with an attractive, branded eBay storefront. Manage your inventory carefully to maximize sales and customer satisfaction. Consider using a software tool to sync operations across multiple sales channels. And use eBay’s Seller Hub to manage, analyze and grow your business. Ready to get growing? Head to ebay. com/sellercenter for more resources to help you learn and succeed on eBay. Thanks for watching! .