How to Sell on eBay? 9 Simple Steps to Become an eBay Seller in 2024

eBay was one of the companies that were born from the internet boom in the 1990s. Since its inception in 1995, it has become a household name in the eCommerce business and currently operates in 32 countries, worldwide. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. 

eBay predated the entry of its closest rival, Amazon, into the Indian eCommerce market by almost a decade, commencing operations in the country in 2005. It has arguably pioneered the rapid growth of the eCommerce industry in the country, with other major players such as Amazon and Flipkart, wanting a share of the action. In this blog, we will take you through how you can sell on eBay, the benefits of using eBay for sale, the challenges associated with it and how WareIQ can help. 

Why Should You Choose eBay for Sale?

Immediate Recognition

While Amazon has garnered more trust from customers in recent years, eBay is no slouch when it comes to trustability and customers’ ability to recognise the brand as an eCommerce giant. If a retailer uses eBay for sale, customers will automatically associate them and their products and services with eBay and all the positives that come with it.

This instantly increases the chances of customers buying your products compared to if you were an independent seller because they have faith in eBay’s verification processes and trust that their purchase and order fulfillment experience will be up to the mark.

Auction Services

One of eBay’s unique features that continues to set it apart from other competitors is the ability for retailers who sell on eBay to conduct auctions. Products that get sold at auctions always end up getting sold for a much higher price than the retail equivalent, simply because the product will always get sold at the highest possible price that people are willing to pay. eBay also gives users the option to set a reserve price, which acts as a safety net to prevent products from getting sold at a severely discounted price compared to what it is actually worth.

Promising SEO Capabilities

This is another metric where eBay is slightly behind Amazon but still offers prime SEO results, pun not intended. Regardless of what types of products customers are searching for, eBay results are bound to pop up in the top 5 to 10 results, at least. Retailers who only sell on eBay and other eCommerce platforms and who do not operate their own websites can take advantage of the heightened SEO results.

Reduced Prices

This is one metric where eBay has a clear advantage compared to Amazon. Amazon charges around 15% plus additional fees per sale compared to eBays 10%. This means that retailers who sell on eBay can retain higher profit margins while selling at the same or discounted prices compared to who sell on amazon , flipkart or other eCommerce websites, which can be a huge boon, especially for small to mid-sized businesses.

Gigantic Customer Market

eBay, while still second to Amazon, has an astounding 183 million active users. This means that retailers who sell on eBay instantly get access to this huge market of potential customers which can instantly result in more demand and sales. However, sellers will have to fend off other competitors who are also seeking to make use of this newfound demand. Retailers will need to adjust their business strategy accordingly but new customers are always a good thing.

9 Simple Steps to Start to Sell on eBay in 2024

Creating an Account

Open the “My eBay” drop-down menu that is present on all eBay pages and click on “selling”.

Type of Account

You can either opt for a business account or a personal account. Once that is done, enter the information in the registration form and click on “create account”. You can also sign up with an Apple, Google or Facebook account. Then fill out your contact details and click “Continue”.

Registering as an eBay Seller

After filling out the contact details, you will be redirected back to “My eBay”. You will have to register as an eBay seller. Click on the “My eBay” menu and click on “selling” as done previously.

Listing an Item

You will be directed to the Selling Overview page where you need to click on “List an Item” which will redirect you to fill out the “Sell Your Item” form.

Naming Your Product

Once you enter the name of your product, click on “Get Started”.

Adding Product Information

Once you enter all the details in the “Sell Your Item” form, click on “Submit”. The listing will then be saved as a draft from where you will be directed back to the Seller Account Registration page where you have to click on “Get Started”.

Verify Your Phone Number

You will have to fill out your phone number and have it verified by entering an OTP.

Changing Account Type

You can now change your account type if you want to. It will mostly not be needed.

Users can opt between 2 types of accounts to sell on eBay:

• Personal Account: Choose this if you want to sell on eBay as an individual or if you are connected to a registered business.
• Business Account: Choose this if you want to sell on eBay as a company (Single-member LLC, Corporation/Multi-member LLC, Partnership) or a sole proprietor.

You Can Now Sell on eBay

Now that your account has been verified, you can commence selling on eBay.

Challenges Faced by Retailers Who Sell on eBay

Presence of Additional and Hidden Fees

eBay, like other eCommerce selling platforms, cannot abstain from imposing additional and hidden fees on retailers. Retailers are often bombarded with new and varying prices that they have to pay if they want to continue to sell on eBay. Examples include getting charged an insertion fee if you add one listing in 2 different categories and you are also using a free account. These expenses can often have dire consequences for retailers who already have slim profit margins.

Restrictions on New Sellers

eBay seeks to make the most amount of money it can. Retailers have to remember that it is not a charity service and eBay’s bottom line probably matters even more than their own. To ensure that firms are pulling their weight, restrictions such as selling thresholds or minimum income requirements for a specified period of time are often imposed on sellers, with penalties being imposed on sellers who cannot meet them. This will rub salt in the wound for new businesses that are already struggling to get by.

Creation of Product Listings

Creating listings on eBay can often be a lot harder than it needs to be. For example, if retailers want to upload in bulk, they can upload a CSV file but will have to filter through more than 60 pages of instructions, which can make it unnecessarily complicated for people who are not well-versed with technology. This process can take time and effort, especially if your catalogue is diverse and you have different products with multiple variations.

Restrictions on Type of Images

eBay imposes restrictions on the type of images that can be used. Images can only be between 500 pixels wide and 1600 pixels wide. Images that are either above or below this threshold will not cut it. Additionally, eBay is very strict when it comes to images used from existing sources and requires crediting the original source, which can then direct the interest of customers away from your page. 

Lack of Automation and Integration

When retailers opt to sell on eBay and utilise eBay’s 1st-party services, they often limit themselves because there are no options to integrate with other platforms or software solutions. This makes life much harder for businesses that want to sell their products on multiple platforms because they will have to juggle manually updating multiple different pages that have different passwords which can be a cumbersome process. Additionally, there are limited options for automation for basic tasks such as packaging.

Suggested Read: Sell on Instagram

eBay for Sale: 8 Strategies to Get the Most Out of it

Run Promoted Listing Campaigns

Promoted listings are a tried and tested way of improving product visibility and eventually, sales. Research shows that promoted listings are viewed 36% more than regular ones. The pricing scheme for these campaigns also limits the amount of risk incurred by a retailer because instead of paying upfront, eBay receives an additional percentage of each sale made.

Use Intelligent Keywords

Keywords are the words that customers type into search engines when they are looking for a product. Keywords constantly evolve depending on the season, type of products, the platform used, etc. Retailers need to constantly be ahead of the curve and use the appropriate keywords in their product descriptions, page titles and image descriptions so that they can give themselves the best chance of matching with what customers are looking for.

Offer Fast and Free Shipping

In the current landscape we live in, same-day and next-day shipping have become the norm. Your business needs to offer it to avoid being left behind. Another way to spark interest from customers is to offer free shipping wherever possible. There are many methods to offer free shipping while still retaining a high-profit margin such as including the shipping cost in the price of the product and having minimum cart requirements, among others, so retailers need to analyse their capabilities and offer shipping services accordingly.

Try Hiding Negative Reviews 

If your listing page is constantly flooded with negative reviews, it could be indicative of a much larger issue. However, if you are a growing business, there are bound to be trials and errors along the way. Retailers who sell on eBay, need to make sure that they address and correct every negative review that they receive so that can be gotten out of the way because they have been solved.

They also need to put an honest effort into turning negative reviews into positive ones so that when another customer checks the reviews, the ratio of positive to negative reviews will be higher. 

Try to Achieve eBay Top Seller Status

If you sell on eBay, you should definitely consider becoming a top-rated seller. This will give you an achievable long term goal and will enable you to optimize all the metrics that will help get you there such as providing an excellent customer experience and selling products that are popular. By becoming a top-rated seller, you would be eligible for various perks such as boosted visibility, a specified amount that gets credited towards promoted listings, discounts on shipping and much more.

Have a Fair Return Policy

Retailers who use eBay for sale need to frame an appropriate return policy. Since returns expenditures are generally incurred by sellers, they need to have a policy in place that doesn’t put undue pressure on them. Conversely, they also need to keep in mind that a strict, rigid return policy can be a turn off for customers.

Retailers need to strike a balance between offering a fair return policy for themselves and their customers. eBay offer a cash-back guarantee relating to orders that are not fulfilled, damaged products and orders that don’t match the description. Excluding these circumstances, retailers are free to choose if they want to offer returns or not.

Promote Your Listings on Social Media

Social media and eCommerce go hand in hand. The same people that are browsing pages on Facebook and Instagram are also checking for products that they want to buy and spend hours looking for the best deals possible. The logical conclusion is to utilise social media to promote products that you sell on eBay since those users are already well-informed about the internet, how to buy products online and would appreciate extra knowledge about a sale or a product that they may want to buy. 

Run Email Marketing Campaigns

For retailers who sell on eBay, running email marketing campaigns is a good way of keeping people informed and reminded about your products, promotional offers you are running and information about your brand in general. It is also a good way of gathering data about the tastes and preferences of customers so that it can be used for future marketing campaigns and can yield better results.

Conclusion

It is a dream for many retailers to sell on eBay due to the vast array of benefits that comes with it. While it is definitely a good idea to register to sell on eBay, we also do not recommend putting all your eggs in just one basket. Due to the adverse growth of the eCommerce industry in the country, it pays dividends to generate as much exposure as possible in order for a retailer to capture the maximum amount of market share that they possibly can.

It also depends on factors such as the nature of your business and products, the financial capabilities of your business and the potential customers you are trying to target. If you do decide that selling on eBay is the right decision for your business, you would need to think about the best way to fulfill all those orders. This is where WareIQ can be of assistance.

WareIQ is emerging as one of India’s most rapidly expanding 3PL fulfillment companies. We provide every aspect of order fulfillment such as fulfillment centers to store products, picking and packing services, distribution and delivery services and reverse logistics. This, coupled with our superior and advanced tech platform that provides a state of the art Warehouse Management Software, NDR support and an RTO shield that gives you protection from liabilities and return orders, is sure to make your order fulfillment experience world-class.

Sell on eBay: FAQs

Supercharge your fulfilment with WareIQ now, contact our team.

Contact Us