3 Lessons to learn from the stories of the failed eBay sellers

eBay marketplace has produced many millionaires over the years. However, there has been plenty of failures even here that often gets overshadowed in the glam of all these success stories.

While, for motivation, people usually like reading such millionaire accounts, the instances of failures can be a great source of inspiration too. After reading through hundreds of stories penned by failed eBay sellers, here are 3 life lessons that we think everyone should learn from them:

1. Focusing on the “selling” part too much

E-commerce business is 20 percent selling and 80 percent marketing. Sadly, this is something many new online sellers do not understand. And this is something we encountered over and again from the stories of these failed eBay ventures. They regret not doing enough to market their products and stores. While some only focused on the in-built eBay search engine and SEO, completely overlooking the social media platforms, others didnt even do that.

If you’re an online seller, learn to invest a large part of your time and resource in the marketing department.

2. Doing everything all by yourself

For someone who’s just starting in the e-commerce scene, going about alone seems like a fitting idea. However, it’s also a big mistake. In reiterating their stories, many of these sellers said that they should have hired professional eBay listing service right at the beginning. Such third-party service could have easily helped them not only optimize their listing but also tackle other backend tasks like inventory management and order fulfillment.

If you’re a new eBay seller, don’t try to do everything all by yourself. It’s highly tiring and ineffective. You would be unproductive.

3. Not adapting to the changing trends

A decade back, eBay was the king of e-commerce. However, while still just as big and relevant on the scene, many new marketplaces have come up that have become favorites to many niche sellers. Failing to adapt to the changing trends of e-commerce is another big mistake that the failed eBay sellers said they made. They say, had they started selling on other channels as well, their business would have sustained.

The bottom line for you is to not just focus on eBay but also sell on other channels. Become a multi-channel seller. It’s easier than it sounds, really. With the right third-party multi-channel solution, you can easily integrate all your storefronts together – from Bigcommerce integration with Amazon to Shopify with eBay. And this could add ease and efficiency to the backend activities of your stores, including in product listing, inventory management and order fulfillment, which would eventually make multi-channel selling much simpler.

These are 3 lessons you can learn from the stories of failed eBay sellers. Avoid the mistakes they made, and you will automatically be on your way to the top.

Pre Conditions All eBay And Amazon Listing Softwares Must Fulfill

Features are not everything when it comes to experiencing the best of ecommerce softwares especially those that are dedicated to core operational processes. There is in fact, a list of pre conditions that these solutions, like eBay and Amazon listing software / inventory order management tools etc. need to fulfill in order to meet and exceed performance expectations, some of which can be listed as follows…

Worthy reputed providers –

You may have heard this infinite times but stressing the importance of approaching the right providers is never enough. Unless you approach the right providers, experiencing the best of evolved features will be next to impossible. For all you know, there are many inauthentic providers in the market that promise futuristic solutions at scratch basic prices. Approaching them would lead to losing your money while earning a bad experience that could have been avoided.

Assurances that are backed with tangible positive user feedback –

Once you have landed with a dependable provider, you need to check the reviews and feedbacks posted by previous users. This can throw light upon the usage advantages and quality of the solutions in practice than in theory. You can also get to learn a lot about best practices in usage for the concerned solutions that can help you maximize the performance of the solution.

Extended customizability and system compatibility –

Testing the compatibility of the chosen software with your existing integrated performance can make phenomenal difference in usage experience. For example, if you are a Magento powered seller with end to end Walmart Magento integration running in your favor, the listing solution you choose should compliment your integrated performance as well as your operative system so that unexpected errors, bottle necks and shut downs can be avoided. It is imperative to mention your operative system type and integration level before saying yes to any seller support softwares.

Beginners Guide To Effective Amazon Listing

Listing in Amazon is usually more about strategizing than just blindly following established rules. For beginners, visibility can become an issue especially after enjoying high search rankings for the first few weeks of product launch making it very difficult for them to pull up endeavors in the face of severe competition. With the following tips though, maintaining optimum visibility and search rankings without having to try too hard can become possible…

Firstly, always start with listing popular products that are most likely to bag instant eyeballs. Carry out an initial research on popular products in Amazon and list them first instead of importing then entirety of your store at the very onset.

Secondly, carry out listing optimization without fail. Best Amazon listing software solutions these days come with effective optimization benefits that can help beginners gain instant competitive edge in the face of tough competition posed by established sellers.

Thirdly, competitive pricing is the key to success in Amazon. Considering that the process of pricing can be confusing for beginners, using pricing / re pricing tools is recommended for the purpose.

Thirdly, reviews are an integral part of your listing. Therefore, you need to focus on generating reviews from the first sale on. Using review generation tools and softwares is the easiest way to bag healthy feed back in an organic way.

Fourthly, is you are present in multiple platforms of sale; you need to carry out end to end integration with each and all. For example, if you are a Shopify powered seller that is present in eBay as well, you will have to carry out Shopify eBay Amazon integration to maintain listing automation and harmony in all.

Fifth, say no to tricks / hacks and scamming. They hardly work anymore. The damages that tricks, hacks and scamming can do are not worth taking the risk in the first place, for measly short term visibility.

Perfect Ingredients For The Perfect Amazon eBay Product Titles

So, what is the name of your product again? This is the first thing that should matter to you while listing your products in eBay, Amazon or any top performing marketplaces or CSEs for that matter. Well designed product titles can help sellers win maximum visibility among target buyers and high search ranking for an indefinite period of time. The best part is, you don’t have to be a pro seller to get your titles right. Here are certain key ingredients to design the perfect title that can bring the best of traffic to all sellers irrespective of their experience levels…

Keyword relevance –

Some of the best Amazon eBay listing software solutions these days comes with comprehensive keyword research tools for titles. These tools help sellers access a set of words in tune with their products that prospective buyers are most likely to type in while conducting their search. While you can carry out keyword research on your own, it is best to have the task automated with proper tools. This not only saves time but adds effectiveness to the task as well.

Length –

Just because keywords are important, it does not mean that you need to add all of them all together in your product title. Lengthy titles are something like mini summaries and can be very confusing to buyers and often unacceptable to respective marketplaces. Therefore, even if you have your product feature in the search list, buyers may not click on it at all. This will eventually claim your ranking than add to it.

Comprehensive listing services –

eBay Amazon listing services and managed solutions offered by high quality providers can be a practical lifesaver when it comes to designing perfect titles as well as perfecting listing endeavors in all possible ways. Seeking professional involvement may call for some initial investment, but is worth the money.

When Not To Blame Your Seller Softwares For Unachieved Goals

It is very common to blame ecommerce seller support softwares when they don’t live up to expected standards. Shooting powerfully worded reviews and de-motivating other sellers to approach these softwares / tools follows just as easily. However, if you come to think of it in logical perspective, more often than not, it is not the fault of the software or the providers at all.

Following are a few such circumstances when sellers have blamed softwares for things going wrong with their ecommerce endeavors, but should have instead, raised questions on their approach to the solutions in the first place…

You have blindly chosen incompatible softwares –

Be it eBay Amazon software or softwares for any other marketplace for that matter, if you have not been careful enough to determine the compatibility of the solution with your operative system, you should not blame the same if it does not perform with optimal efficiency.

You did not check its feature list meticulously before purchasing / installing –

All softwares don’t come with all features which makes it imperative to determine the complete feature list before buying the same. Many sellers have been seen expressing that ‘they thought’ the softwares offered such and such features. In such cases, it is your imagination and carelessness that has to be blamed.

The providers were not dependable enough –

If you have approached a shady provider for the sake of availing the best of features at scratch level costs, there is every reason to expect your software to malfunction. Best of softwares or plug-ins like Shopify plug-in, Bigcommerce plug-in etc. never come at dirt cheap prices. And if they do, it strictly raises questions on the authenticity of the providers.

You have no clue how to use it –

Improper usage including faulty installation and integrations are common with newer and less experienced sellers. This is also the lot that has minimal knowledge about identifying possible mistakes and end up blaming the software for no apparent reason.

Top Features To Aim For In eBay Listing Services

If you are a new seller in eBay, Amazon or any other top ecommerce marketplaces for that matter, you may have faced significant confusions about how to choose the right listing solutions to suit your business endeavors. These days, there are innumerable Amazon eBay listing services to choose from, which can make the process of landing with the right one even more difficult. To make things easy, here is a small list of features that any seller in eBay / Amazon should insist upon while looking for the ideal listing services…

Customizability –

Customizability refers to the option to choose features according to your suitability. This is in contrast with softwares that are pre designed and rigid. With the option of customizability, you can ensure that you spend only for features that you need and no more.

Affordability –

The matter of affordability can be a little tricky because, the best of listing services that offer evolved and productive features usually come with hefty price tags. On the other hand, cheap or free softwares / tools boast nothing more than bare basic features that may not live up to expectations. Therefore, sellers need to find a middle path, preferably with the assistance of professionals.

Customer support on call –

Most Amazon eBay listing services offered by dependable providers come with end to end customer support that can be approached with nothing more than a phone call. This helps new and inexperienced users to approach the softwares more confidently be it in terms of installation or in terms of troubleshooting.

Seller compatibility –

While it is true that end to end integration like eBay Magento Walmart syncing etc increases the performance of listing services, choosing options in tune with their compatibility with seller endeavors, operative systems etc ensures making the most of these support services.

The Age of Automation (and Ultra-Efficiency) In Online Selling

A decade back, online selling was a whole different game than it is today. The options were limited to the vendors, increasing sales was confusing, and there were plenty of manual work to handle. These days, we’re living in a new age where automation and ultra-efficiency have become the “it” for online vendors.

There are advanced eBay auto listing software in the market and state-of-art e-commerce solutions available at affordable pricing—all, combined, have entirely transformed the basic idea of e-selling. You can now run your entire business on automation with only very little manual interference required on your part. Thousands of multi-channel sellers are already leveraging this power of technology. And if you want to follow their suite and keep up with the fast-changing scene, you too must get hung to this age of automation.

Start by identifying and signing up to a good and reliable multi-channel e-commerce solution. These days, you will find many. Pick one that suits your distinct requirements and budget. There are certain features you must proactively look for. One, it must offer integration facility with more than just the common marketplaces, webstores, comparison shopping engines and affiliate networks. The more partnering shopping channels it has, the better.

Second, prioritize what facilities does the solution provides. Look beyond the listing and optimization features; real-time, multi-channel inventory management and order fulfillment solution are becoming quite standard for good e-commerce software providers these days. Such features can automate various ends of operations, eliminating more of the errors and gearing your overall efficiency to an optimum level.

Also, additionally, while many online sellers and resellers undermine the value of good customer support, such “essential add-ons” can come to play a crucial role in bolstering your productivity by providing you effective and efficient assistance.

Today, to be at the top of your game, you must also be bank on technological advancement in your shipping and marketing department. The more you let cutting-edge solutions steer the functioning of your online stores, smoother will be your ride towards the epitomized ultra-efficiency. And the more efficient you are, the more successful you will be.