Challenges in eBay – Selling at Scale

eBay is one of the top marketplaces every online seller wants to tap. In 2018 eBay revenue is around 10 billion dollars. For large volume sellers, selling on eBay is a bit challenging. There are many restrictions for large volume sellers. However, the challenges can be improvised. With the help of tools and software, the eBay marketplace is very fruitful for Amazon or other successful sellers. Selling at Scale is possible and easy in eBay with the help of tools and softwares.

Getting an eBay store helps in reaching millions of customers. Especially if you are a private label seller or you have your brand, then the eBay store is a must. One can design their custom homepage and explain about the product with beautiful landing pages. Listing of products is quite friendly and powerful optimization. Subscribing to the eBay store will save a lot of fees. Also, premium tools like Seller Hub, which is very good when promoting a product and boost sales. Even a basic plan will help in reducing cost listing, which can be auto-renewed after 30 days. The first thing eBay seller can do when they sign up to sell on eBay is lifting the seller limit. For example, Initially on eBay, one can sell ten products at $100 each, which is a limit of $1000. The seller limit will move up slowly. However, this is a very major drawback for large corporations. If you are a well-established seller with a reputed brand, one can request eBay for a higher limit.

Title optimization

Title optimization is essential for multi market place sellers. Make sure the title is best suitable for the product, or else buyers cannot find the product itself. Choose a tool that helps in title structure and ideas for bulk listing. Image optimization is necessary since eBay has restrictions on the maximum size. Since eBay is stringent in its image policies. Minimum 500px resolution is mandatory. For good quality, at least 1600px images work well.

eBay allows only 80 characters in the title. eBay search engine will show results according to search keywords. So one must use the 80 characters and try to match the customer’s search. Product description or essential information related to the product are allowed in eBay with 55 characters as subtitles. There are many tools available in the market, which saves a lot of time and provides the most optimized titles.

  • Avoid capital letters in the title
  • Don’t make spelling mistakes in the title
  • Using keywords like original, official will customer to make quick decisions

Selecting a Category

eBay has more than 20,000 categories. If you are selling more than 100 varieties of products, choosing the correct type is challenging and time-consuming. eBay has a feature that suggests a category based on the title. However, this is not always correct. Tools like listing solutions can help you tackle this time-consuming problem. 

If you are doubtful about the category, one can look at similar items and their category. Choosing the correct category is very important for a competitive price. Also, look for relevant subcategories as well. If you are selling earrings, one can put the product in Jewellery as the main category and earrings in the subcategory.

Inventory

Inventory is no big deal when you have small numbers. However, inventory is another challenging part of the eBay sellers business. Sellers cannot let the items go out of stock and sell the same on the other hand. “Out of Stock” will cause a severe problem to your seller account, and eBay will limit your seller account. As a seller, you must explain the situation to the customer, and you may lose a customer for mismanaging Inventory. Managing Inventory regularly and make sure you are not selling something you don’t have. Have some buffering quantity. This will save you if something goes wrong. Tools or software will help a lot to manage inventory. Especially when you are selling in multiple market places. Real-time inventory monitoring is well suited for fast-moving items. 

Finally, all eBay sellers must do shipping to the customers. Shipping is not a big deal for small retailers. But when we are selling at tremendous volume, this is a whole new game. Get sufficient tools, logistics, and Softwares to print addresses at scale. Sellers can opt for shipping services from FedEx, UPS, and USPS. Remember, customers always choose products with free shipping. Also, once customer place order and paid, sellers must submit shipping details to eBay.