eBay is the largest auction platform globally and the third most popular online marketplace in the US. It has a large user base with Statistica estimating that it had 161 million and 159 million active buyers in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The platform has been around for years and demonstrated its resilience hence it offers a robust market to dropshipping products worldwide. It is easy to join and list products with ease. There is no limitation on products you can sell, unlike Amazon that has products it prohibits on its store giving merchants the choice to decide their own destiny. Another comparison with Amazon that is worth pointing out is eBay does not sell products hence it does not compete with merchants as Amazon hence providing a platform to compete favorably with your fellow dropshippers.
Making a profit on the platform is possible with the dropshipper having the power to price their goods at any price. The platform has varying seller fees depending on whether they handle your payments or you use a third party to handle your own payments. The fee depends on the category and can range from fee to 15% of the sales. That means if the product you are dropshipping has razor-thin margins then you stand to lose if you sell your products at rates lower than 20%.
Dropshipping on eBay is a legitimate business that requires setting up strategies that will give you an upper hand against your competitors. Some of the strategies may even seem obvious but many traders ignore and end up wasting time and money then later feeling that dropshipping on eBay is worth the cost. You can guarantee success by :
There is no substitute for knowledge. It is either you are right or wrong. The freedom dropshipping gives you in product choice and the unlimited product choice at eBay means you have millions of products to dropship. Choosing blindly can be a source of downfall if you are not lucky.
The best safeguard against such a problem is to consult proper research on items that sell, and how much they can sell. You can start from eBays completed items to confirm whether or not the items you intend to sell have good sales at the proper price to see if you can get good margins. Do not solely concentrate on the percentages but ROI. if it is possible to sell a $2 item for $8 dollar or $25 then by all means sell at that price till your competitors can catch on.
eBay is not only a place to dropship your product but can also serve as the source of your dropshipping products. Keep an eye for clearance sales on retailer websites to help you fulfill your orders. At times retail items and those on eBay are cheaper than wholesale as some of the merchants just want to clear their items. You do not have to tell the retailer you are reselling the item as most of the merchants have fast delivery periods already.
eBay provides buyer protection for merchants and buyers who use PayPal. Paypal is also a secure method to make purchases online. Due to these two factors, most of the sellers on eBay prefer Paypal above all other payment methods. Having a PayPal account will not only grant you buyer protection but give you access to buyers who filter for the Paypal option.
Keep your eyes on the price at the end of the day it's just business. It is all about being able to meet your operational costs as well as make a profit. You should have a pricing strategy that keeps in mind the seasonal changes in price. Make an aim to get the most competitive prices that will maximize the sales volume whenever you face stiff competition. Try to research the various prices of goods so you know the fair price of goods before listing the goods on eBay.
One key factor to sorting out the pricing conundrum is understanding the different costs associated with selling on eBay. There are listing fees, final value fees, and marketing expenses which can quickly add up depending on the product category and dismantle your razor-thin margins. Find ways of appearing price sensitive by adding things like free shipping. You do not have to burden the entire cost of the shipping and you can even add it to the final cost of the goods and most of your customers will be none the wiser. Look for formidable suppliers from sites like Doba who may offer lower rates for high volume sales and try to meet this goal or criteria. Keep your costs low by minimizing costly returns reshipments due to incompetent or untrustworthy dropshippers.
How compelling are your product descriptions and titles? When you are in a seller space with a lot of competition it's often the most thought-provoking titles that will get you customers' attention after all they do not have eternity to search through the entire listing to compare value and prices. The titles and descriptions are likely to click fast.
It is not all about clicks but also searchability. Good research into your product will help you know what your target customers are searching for so you can directly target them with relevant keywords. Add as many relevant words as possible to the title to help eliminate unnecessary adjectives and buzzwords.
Everyone loves high-quality products and services. eBay recognizes how important it is for customers to know merchants who offer top-notch services consistently by branding them with a Top Rated Plus seal. The top-rated seller badge or seal does more than just display to customers your excellent skills it also qualifies you for a 10% discount of the final value fee on given products, a much welcome gift in increasing profit margins.
A top-rated seller must meet the following criteria when dealing with US buyers:
❖ Have at least 100 transactions totaling at least $1000 in sales revenue
❖ At least 95% of the transactions have valid shipment tracking uploaded within the promised handling time
❖ Have less than 0.3% of all transactions on PayPal and eBay protection on the dispute.
❖ Less than 3% of the transactions with late shipping
Just like good titles and descriptions, good photos will help your customer know the kind of goods you are offering. High-quality photos attract customers to your listing, creating better exposure to your listing. Accurate photos also help your customers know what to expect hence will reduce returns and disappointed buyers.
Try Doba today, risk-free, without missing out on a quality experience!