eBay - 999 or 666 for ecommerce retailers?

eBay has a Marmite relationship with most people; it's a love/hate relationship, and I'm not sure if there is any middle ground!

On one side of the coin it's a market place for bargains, bric-a-brak and impulse buys and on the other it's peoples' livelihood. Since eBay launched in 1995 (or at least its first broken laser pointer sale!) it has become the international giant that's been at the end of bad jokes, name dropped in block buster movies and probably gets included in one of many pub stories you tell.

Personally (not a shared feeling among colleagues though) I love it and use it for almost every online purchase I make, just because it's easy and the competition is so fierce on price that it's the best place to buy cheap.

The cons

Some of you may understand I "should" hate it but the truth is I can't, and I even still sell items on there. But after nearly 10 years of selling on eBay I still face the same old problems, naming just a few:

• Fraud - everything from credit card fraud, eBay buyers saying they never got their item or your eBay/PayPal account being hacked.
• Costs - 10% for normal sellers + 3.4% (and £0.20 more too) for PayPal. 13.4% of your margin is lost already.
• Competition (good for buyers, bad for sellers)
• Limited delivery networks in the UK (Royal Mail have increased costs for a normal small item 200%+ since I first started, that's more than petrol rises which we are all sick of seeing increase!)

The Pros

Ha-ha, well...being a lover not a hater of eBay its going to be hard to fairly sum this part up, or at least keep it as short as the cons section - which it rightfully should be! I will be fair though and list the same amount:

• Instant awareness - hundreds of thousands of impulse buyers coupled with buyers who actively use eBay to source goods you are offering.
• Zero marketing budgets needed - yes you have a listing and final selling fee but you have no cost to get your item onto top ranking results. eBay run Google Adwords for almost all categories, at no cost to you.
• No hosting or maintenance fees - ecommerce can be pricey, unless you sell "X" items to cover "Y" costs per month. No costs to set up on eBay!
• Just another option - eBay is one of many popular selling platforms; Amazon, Play and more allow you to sell on their site. If eBay costs make you feel queasy though - don't look at Amazon's! eBay can be used as a spring board, to start with, or expand into - don't keep all those eggs in one basket though (personal experience talking!!)

The stats

So you're asking, why use it? I'm not writing this to convince you how good or bad eBay is as that's your choice. What you should understand is it's really just an equal balance of pros and cons. I.E. you have a product or products to sell, zero idea on building a website or what you should do to setup an ecommerce store. In comes eBay. They have made it so simple to sell items that it's hard not to understand how to.

With almost 3% of web traffic users visiting eBay US that's a lot of traffic, the geek inside me would really like to see their data centre!!

eBay US traffic stats

Stats courtesy of Alexa.com (percentage of users with Alexa toolbar, a very large cross section of users!)

eBay UK traffic stats

Can you honestly not be impressed by that? To say they guy who invented eBay sold his first item as a "test", and now reach millions of sales per day its worth some respect.

Best practice's on eBay

Buyers (eBayer's)

1. Don't be a di*k (sorry for the language but most buyers think you owe them the world for their £2 purchase). Respect that a seller tries to do their best, albeit it might not be the best - they are still human beings and doing what they can.
2. If you don't get your item in a day, don't email the seller. If you're a tight fisted person who didn't choose the "Royal Mail sign for" or chose 2nd class delivery then why the hell would you think the seller can help you? Leave it at least 7-8 working days, or if you need to vent your anger at someone, call Royal Mail as they are 99.99% of the time to blame. The seller is trying to make ends meat and the last think they will do is send a replacement after a few days.
3. If your a thief, your scum. You seriously deserve to be named and shamed and jump of a bridge for theft. It happens all the time.
4. If you have a problem, question or need to confirm something about the item just ask and NEVER presume. Sellers will help, and they will answer your questions - if you're asking about an item you haven't bought yet then you are a nice warm sales lead, meaning money for them. I personally aim to help within 12 hours, others are 48 hours - although no priority is given I enjoy answering questions from everyone.
5. NEGATIVE / NEUTRAL FEEDBACK - Did you notice the bold, italic and underline there? I hope you did. If you consider leaving negative feedback for eBay sellers please ask yourself why and don't let your natural emotions take over, it's very easy to, but be the bigger person!
   
   You should leave it for the following:
   1. Fake sellers, i.e. people who take your money and disappear. Always pay with PayPal as you can claim your money back.
   2. When you get completely ignored by email & phone (always use the ask seller a question form, not an email since it might be spammed!). Some sellers don't have phone support but if they do and always blow you off that's worth a negative (unless your abusive etc).
   3. The seller is one of my competitors, just kidding - if you are a seller and you do that to the competition you belong in point 3. Relish competition, be better than them, do what they do better just don't play dirty - if your caught doing that, and you will be - you deserve a visit to the hospital in the wrong kind of way.
   
   You should NOT EVER leave negative or neutral for the following:
   1. Late delivery. It's likely the fault of the courier (or since Royal Mail brag about the market share they have, them.). Unless the seller says 3 weeks after your purchase and they haven't said it would be sent then, then maybe, but always ask why that's happened.
   2. "Presumed" features of an item. Always ask if you are not sure. I.e. Don't expect a PC has 4GB of RAM if it doesn't say it has!
   3. Basically for any other reason if it might not be the sellers fault, just ask why, how when - after that you might get a better understanding if you should or not.

Sellers (retailers, shops, etailers etc)

1. Don't list items you don't have in stock, your just asking for trouble.
2. Answer emails promptly and politely, always, always end with "Kind regards", "Thanks" etc - there is nothing worse than rude people and there is such a long list of past sellers I could put here to, is it not common sense? Also "Hi mate" is reserved for people you have known for a while (1 year plus?), use that phrase sparingly since you probably don't know them and the chance is you would only have a pint with a "mate" wouldn't you?
3. Send items quickly, or at least the buyer know why you can't send it out - be honest, don't make up some white lie that will be a half arsed effort to cover up mistakes.
4. Don't be afraid of growing, and certainly never think you know everything about eBay that you can't listen to other sellers, with the exception of me of course; I do know everything about eBay and know more than any seller!....Ha I wish!
5. Stay one step ahead. In my day (lol I sound old - I'm 26!) I introduced videos of RC cars, helicopters and planes into eBay descriptions. I'm not lying, nor am I saying it hadn't been done before but I never had seen it. It helped, it helped a lot - all from a stupid idea that I had during a night out in Whitley Bay!
6. Don't think you're too late. Because you're not. New products, latest gadgets, even better priced existing items will sell.
7. Do your homework. Find sellers who sell your items, think "How can I do better?", do their descriptions look good? Images? Business contact details? All these will make your item sell better if you are better.

Since I don't need to mention about negative feedback you leave for buyers anymore (Thanks and no-thanks to eBay there!), you should not forget about the feedback you get. When making a buying decision 100% of the time I will check the sellers reputation. Screw eBays 98% target, 2% of buyers are unhappy? I wouldn't even take those odds in surgery! If it's less than 99.5% don't bother. Pay the little bit extra I think.

If your feedback is shocking, turn the corner and focus on why. You're losing buyers and if you're a 2000+ feedback/month seller with less than 99.8% you're not going to last much longer in a nutshell - you're clearly not focused on customer satisfaction.

On my final point to sellers, this makes me cringe like nails on a blackboard - DO NOT EVER REPLY TO NEGATIVE FEEDBACK BLAMING THE BUYER You might have been unfairly treated by the buyer, for whatever reason. Just don't do it as you look like a one-man-band with an attitude. Bite the bullet, reply something like "Sorry, hope we resolved everything for you" or "We have corrected this now, sorry for any inconvenience". It shows you proactively monitor your feedback and respond to issues and don't just ignore them. Try to respond to very positive comments too, engage with buyers, make new ones feel welcome and treat existing buyers with great respect - they were happy once, and trusted you enough to buy again!