I've been selling on ebay for over 10 years now and had one of the first ebay shops in the UK
I also spent time as an ebay-trained Education Specialist which involved helping members of the public understand how to buy and sell on ebay.
I love looking at ebay shops but they can be a very mixed bunch, from shops that have had hundreds of pounds spent on the design to others that look like backstreet pound shops. The listings all have the one common denominator though - they are there to make money but even the glitziest shop can make things hard for themselves by not having a good selling strategy or unwittingy putting barriers up between themselves and their buyers pockets.
Sometimes you can be too close to a situation to see why things don't work properly and it takes another person to spot where things can be improved - and you don't want that person to be your prospective customer. It's far better that someone with an experienced eye looks over your listings and shop and suggests improvements so that the image you present to your customer is the best you can possibly make it.
It's not just about the visual appearance of your shop though, if you aren't making the best use of keywords or ebay's 'Best Match' searches then you are bound to be missing out on sales, in fact not getting to grips with Best Match is causing a lot of sellers to have their listings demoted to the foot of the last page and slowing sales down to almost a halt.
Many High Street store chains use mystery shoppers who test the shop to see what they can learn. The mystery shopper will view the store through a buyer's eyes and their report is acted upon by the company to improve what they call 'the shopper experience'.
I can look at your ebay shop with the keen eye of an experienced ebay seller to spot the opportunities for sales that you hadn't noticed and also 'wander' around your shop as a mystery shopper to see where things can be improved from the customers point of view.
What will I actually 'do'?
I'll spend a good long while on the whole process of looking at your ebay set-up, reading the listings, noting the things that will prevent the buyer finding you such poorly worded titles because if the title is not making the most of keywords your buyer won't see that you have the goods he's looking for, he'll find the item from other sellers listings though....
I'll also see if the layout is easy for the buyer to browse around, perhaps shop categories aren't being used to the fullest and the shop has the appearance of a jumble sale with all of the products on the same rack or shelf as it were. I'll look at your description and other text, do you come over as a friendly shopkeeper or a school teacher issuing instructions on payment? it may not have been how you intended your words to come across but that's how it may seem to a stranger.
I'll check your selling strategy and see how we can get the best visiblity for the least fees. I'll also advise on the look of your shop and your listings - ebay buyers can't actually feel the softness of the angora sweater or smell the Chinese spices so they will make their choice purely on what they see and read so if the colour scheme is too wild or too dull, if the photos are poor or the description is terse they are going to leave your listing and go to the next seller - and there are plenty of them to choose from.
ebay shop traders have another dimension to their selling technique - the bewildering array of marketing tools, display and promotion options, custom pages etc, and where do you get a custom made logo for free? how do you work out an effective selling strategy? cross promotions? keyword setting?....I can steer you in the right direction and help stop the rot of wasted fees etc
I can help new sellers that are just starting out or long time sellers that just don't seem to be getting the profit they expect for their items, everyone gets into bad habits and an eBay listing is no different to anything else, a second opinion from someone with the relevant experience is always welcome.
So how does it work?
You email me via my contact page and give me your shop name. Tell me what your concerns are and what you hope to do with your sales etc. and then I'll set to work on my report, within 24 to 48 hours or so I'll email you with my observations and suggestions.
If you don't think that my suggestions are relevant or helpful there is no charge - you can't lose!
If you agree that my suggestions are useful to you and you can see how they would either help you save more money or earn more money I'll send you a Paypal invoice for £65
You'll recoup the outlay of my fees when your shop is working well by saving money on fees and turning a greater profit, you can also enter the cost on your tax return as a legitimate business expense too, so think of it as an investment in the future of your business.
Previous work?
So far I have worked with shops selling items as diverse as computer software, pool tables, baby clothes, conservatory blinds, horse riding equipment, musical instruments, childrens shoes, jewellery, dolls house furniture, fishing tackle, lingerie, carp bait, leather goods, cosmetics, home furnishings, craftware and giftware to name just a few of them.
Any other ebay services?
By now I hope that you'll see that £65 is a very small investment to bring greater profitablity to your ebay shop
