eBay is a huge marketplace and many people run successful businesses here. But while starting a business on eBay is something almost anyone can do, scaling your business can be a challenge.
One of the most important areas to focus on is marketing. But eBay marketing is a big topic, so where should you begin?
There’s a lot to cover, and in this guide, we’ll go over the 10 most effective marketing strategies you can use to take your eBay business to the next level.
TL;DR
- eBay is a competitive marketplace, but you can use marketing techniques to drive more traffic to your listings and get more sales.
- There are several ways to market on eBay, including advertising and eBay SEO.
- You can also send traffic to your eBay store from your own website, emails, and social media channels.
- You could focus your efforts on one technique or incorporate several to make more sales and scale your eBay business.
Benefits of Marketing on eBay
Marketing has huge benefits for any business, and it can certainly play a role in helping you scale your eBay business.
One of the major benefits of eBay is that it generates a serious amount of traffic. eBay has millions of active buyers, and it’s a lot easier to get eyes on your products on eBay than it is to generate traffic to your own website.
The problem is, there’s a lot of competition.
Many sellers are competing to sell their own products, and this is where marketing can make a big difference.
By advertising on the platform, and investing in other types of marketing, you can generate more interest in your own listings to beat the competition and grow your eBay business.
Let’s look at 10 of the best ways to market your eBay business.
1. Boost Organic Rankings
The first place to start when marketing on eBay is to work on your organic rankings in the search results.
Just like in Google, rankings matter. Most people will start their product search by typing something into the search bar, and eBay will then present them with a list of results.
Your goal is to make sure your listings are near the top of those results, but that’s easier said than done.
eBay’s search engine is called Cassini. Search engines use algorithms to determine where your listings appear, and the same is true with Cassini where the algorithm takes many factors into consideration.
eBay SEO involves optimizing several factors to try and get your listings to appear higher up in the search results.
The first area to focus on is keywords. If your listings are optimized for the right keywords, they’ll stand a better chance of getting more visibility.
Start by researching the keywords you should be using. Check the latest Google trends, research competing listings, or use a dedicated third-party tool to find out which keywords are most important.
Make a list of all the most important keywords, then optimize your listings by using them in the right places including product titles and meta tags.
At the same time, make sure you optimize eBay listings beyond just keywords:
- Create detailed listings that provide all the relevant information.
- Use professional images, and use as many as you’re permitted to show the product from different angles.
- Check for mistakes in grammar and spelling to come across as trustworthy.
Overall, focus on improving your listings. You don’t want to spend money on advertising if your product listings are letting you down.
2. Get More Reviews
Reviews are hugely important for eBay sellers. Don’t assume that you can simply sit back and let them roll in. That will start happening over time, but you should start by investing in boosting your reviews.
Most eBay shoppers will read the reviews before they decide to purchase something. The more positive reviews you have, the better.
By getting more reviews, you’ll boost social proof and give new customers reassurance. After all, they don’t know anything about you yet, so why should they trust you?
That starts with providing a top experience for your customers. Make sure your customer service is excellent, answer questions quickly, deal with problems, and be helpful.
If you do all this as an eBay seller, you may get Top Rated Seller status. This also leads to more visibility, and you’ll get a badge that inspires greater trust.
Then start sending review reminders.
Many customers may be willing to leave a review, but they often forget. You just need to give them a gentle reminder. Simply doing this can be enough to generate many more reviews.
There’s also third-party software that automates this process and speeds it up so you can build more reviews while you get on with other tasks.
3. Use Promotions
Another way to use marketing to get more eBay sales is to use promotions, and you can do this in the Promotions Manager.
Use eBay Promotions Manager to create special offers, edit them, and manage them all in one place. It’s very user-friendly, so it won’t take long to get used to it.
People love finding deals. When they search on eBay, many people may be on the lookout for special offers. So give them what they want.
Make sure you don’t sell your products for a price that’s too low. Lower-priced items are great, but you still need to make money. But a promotion can make your listings more appealing.
There are several types of discounts you can set up:
- Order discounts
- Coupons
- Shipping discounts
- Sale events
- Volume pricing discounts
You can manage as many discounts as you want in the Promotions Manager, and there’s no need to use any third-party tools.
Set up your first promotion, let it run, and then check out the results. You can easily see how well it’s doing. Use what you learn to set up a few different promotions, then compare the results.
You can set up offers to only show up to some shoppers, like those who are browsing the search results. This is a great way to catch the eye of potential buyers and get a competitive advantage.
4. Advertise on eBay
eBay advertising is definitely worth a try as well. Just like on other marketplaces like Amazon, advertisements can help to give your listings more visibility and can be one of the best uses of your marketing budget.
Promoted listings are a good way to start. These look like normal listings but have a “Sponsored” label, and they display higher up in the search results.
Ads are very adaptable, and you can target customers based on many different segments. There are hundreds of customer groups based on:
- Income
- Demographics
- Shopping habits
- Lots more
This makes it easy for you to reach the right target audience.
Another benefit of eBay ads is that they are pay-per-sale (PPS) rather than pay-per-click (PPC) ads, so you only pay a fee when a click leads to a sale.
5. Compete on Price
Another area to focus on is your price. Just as you drop your prices when you launch a promotion, you can also drop your prices to be more competitive.
You can’t scale your eBay business unless you’re competitive with your prices.
Find out what your competitors are selling for and then try to undercut them while still making a profit.
You could spend hours a day checking your competitors’ prices and then changing your own listings to beat them. Or you could invest in a third-party repricing tool like Repricer.
This will monitor the competition and react as soon as it spots a price drop, giving you a better chance of winning the Buy It Now Box and getting more sales.
So make repricing a part of your tactics alongside other eBay marketing techniques.
6. Utilize Emails
Smart eCommerce store owners have long understood the power of email marketing. Sending emails to customers with their latest products, special offers, and limited-time deals is a great way to build long-term relationships and make more sales.
You can use the same technique to generate more interest in your eBay business and sell more products.
In fact, eBay provides its own suite of email tools.
You can use these to keep your customers up to date on your product offerings. Once they have purchased from you, they know you’re a trustworthy seller, so take advantage of this and keep in contact.
Shoppers on eBay can add you to a Saved Sellers list or sign up on your homepage. Then eBay stores subscribers can start to receive your regular newsletters with any upcoming sales, special offers, new products, etc.
Build excitement and buzz, and send them back to your store.
But you’re not limited to eBay’s tools. If you have your own eCommerce website, sign up visitors and customers to your email list then send them updates and direct them to your eBay special offers.
7. Get Social
Social media can also play an important role in your marketing efforts.
Many eCommerce businesses use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms to market their products, and you can do the same for your eBay store.
Create a presence on several platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram, then start publishing regular updates about your products.
Post about new products, discounts, and upcoming offers, and encourage likes and shares. Reply to comments, be active, and generate buzz. You could even hire a VA to manage your social accounts for you.
As your following grows, you can start sending more people back to your eBay store. You could also encourage them to sign up for your email list directly from social media.
There are other ways to use social media to your advantage. There are groups on platforms like Facebook that are focused on eBay items. You can get involved in these communities and connect with potential customers.
Or find other groups interested in the sort of products you sell, and market directly within them. There may be rules about what you can post, but the rewards can be worth it.
8. Send Traffic from Your Website
If you have your own eCommerce website, you can use this to send customers directly to eBay.
You may sell products on your website directly. However, many visitors, especially new customers, may prefer to buy from a marketplace like Amazon or eBay where they already have an account and enjoy the protections that come with shopping there.
Provide them with the option of buying from your eBay store, then send them directly to eBay where they can then purchase your products.
Make the process quick and easy for them so they can find your product on eBay with one click and buy it immediately.
They might return and buy directly from your website next time. But even if they don’t, you’ll be growing your presence on eBay.
9. Use Off-Site Advertising
We’ve already looked at eBay advertising and the excellent options available. But there are other ways to advertise your eBay products, including off-site advertising.
For example, you could use Google Ads to promote your eBay listings. People often start their search on Google, and if they search for the type of product you’re selling, they might click your ad and go to your eBay store.
Or you could use social ads on Facebook and other platforms. These hyper-targeted ads can be a great way to target people with specific interests.
10. Use Inserts
Most of these techniques are focused on finding new customers, but don’t forget to retarget existing customers—which you can do using inserts.
Once someone has bought from you, they see how great the experience is and they have trust in your service. They know you’re a good seller, and they may be more likely to buy from you again.
Adding an insert to your product that they find when they open it can help to provide an even better experience.
Use an insert to add a thank you message. If you can, add a personal message or even a handwritten note.
This is the sort of thing that can help you stand out. Customers remember it, making them more likely to return.
Boost Your eBay Business With Marketing
There are many ways to market your eBay business, and the 10 techniques outlined above provide you with a great way to get started.
You could focus on one of them and make this your priority, like advertising, or you may want to try a few techniques and see which works best for your business.
Make sure you do some kind of marketing. eBay is a competitive marketplace, and you need to work hard to stand out.
Having great products and providing excellent customer service will go a long way. But you often need to do more to get your products noticed to get more sales.
So start experimenting with these ideas today. Invest in an automatic repricing tool to make your products more competitive, and use a range of marketing techniques to scale your eBay store faster.
