eBay is the perfect place to start an e-commerce business. We explain why in this article
byJoe Henry-
Why sell on eBay?
In today's modern world, there are so many choices when it comes to selling and starting your ecommerce journey. For instance, you can sell on Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Vinted, Poshmark, VarageSale, Gumtree, Shopify, Instagram shops, Magento, and BigCommerce to name a few.
That is some range of choice, and to be honest, for the beginner, most of these channels just do not make sense. Our suggestion, given the title of the book, is to start with the granddaddy of eCommerce: EBAY!
Now I can hear you say “Why eBay?”, a great question, I am glad you asked. To answer this question we have put together our top 9 reasons why you should get started on eBay.
eBay’s size.
eBay has 250 million searches per day, that’s 3,000 per second. That's 3,000 people per second looking for items to buy.
This means that you will already have a potential customer base ready to buy your products from day one.
Advertising & Marketing.
eBay is the biggest advertiser on Google pay-per-click and one of the biggest advertisers across the internet.
This means that as you start selling on eBay you are going to benefit from one of the most sophisticated marketing and advertising teams around.
Ease of use.
eBay has the easiest entry point for e-commerce on the internet. eBay is easy to use, and it is free to get started.
This means that you are able to get going quickly, take action and not have to worry about having money upfront.
eBay is old.
eBay has been around for 25 years. It’s unlikely to go anyway anytime soon. eBay is old, and this is a good thing.
The internet is full of start-ups that are here today and gone tomorrow. However, eBay has been around since long before the average Tik Tok user was born.
This means that consumers trust eBay and understand how it works. You are able to benefit from that heritage and trust which has been built up over a quarter of a century from your very first day of trading.
Flexibility.
eBay is a true sandbox that allows you to sell what you like and how you like. With eBay you are able to sell pretty much almost anything, be it designer gear to gearboxes.
eBay has it all and allows you to have flexibility in price, shipping, time to dispatch, headline writing and photography. It really is all down to you.
Software.
There is no software to install or special computer ‘know-how’ needed.
This is brilliant, as platforms like Shopify and Magento can be real pains to get started with. All eBay needs is a smartphone, an email address and the eBay app to get going.
This means with a few clicks you are ready to rock and roll.
Work-Life Balance.
You can easily schedule eBay selling around your job and home life. eBay lends itself as a platform to fit around your life. Because it offers flexibility in shipping dates or sales methods.
For example, if you can only get to the post office every Friday, change your dispatch time to 7 days and the dispatch and shipping of products can be fitted into that slot. Without breaking any eBay rules or customer expectations.
This means that you can achieve the balance you need from eBay.
Decluttering.
eBay allows you to declutter your house and make a few quid as well.
Kaching!!
Decluttering your home can seem like a real waste as you start throwing out all the unwanted stuff from your house. However, with eBay, it will allow you to sell most things whilst decluttering.
This means you can get that zen-like feeling whilst topping up the bank balance and not adding to the landfill.
Selling on eBay is also fun.
Selling on eBay is actually good fun. There is a great feeling when you get up in the morning and see a little red dot in the corner of the eBay app and realise that someone has bought one of your products.
This means that not only will you be making some money on eBay, it is good fun as well.
What are your thoughts about selling via eBay?
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This post is an extract from my book "My First eBay Sale" which is available to pre-order now.
