What is eBay?

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What is eBay

eBay is a very familiar name within the e-commerce industry. It is an online shopping site that functions as both a business to consumer E-tailing enterprise and a consumer to consumer E-tailing business. It was popular around the period of the Dot-com rave and had ever since remained in our faces. The shopping site has created a niche for itself within the industry with its auction deals. eBay operates as an online marketplace where buyers and sellers meet. It charges between 12- 15% of every transaction made by sellers.

The e-commerce store has driven sales and patronage from all around the world since its inception. It was one of the pioneers of the e-commerce move. One of the primary reasons it was able to achieve this is the fact that it operates as an online marketplace. The e-commerce store has driven sales and patronage from all around the world since its inception. It was one of the pioneers of the e-commerce move. One of the primary reasons it was able to achieve this is the fact that it operates as an online marketplace.

It is open for operation across many countries, although some states do not have access restricted from buying or selling on the platform. The multinational eBay Inc. was founded in American by Pierre Omidyar in the autumn of 1995. It is located in San Jose, California.

The e-commerce marketplace was able to gain brand awareness and patronage as a result of the fact that it meets one of the pertinent needs of buyers, and provides an ease to sellers as they sell. They keyed into the trending need to want to buy different products at one location to cut out time-wasting, and they did right with it. Buyers flooded the platform for the value of convenient purchase that characterizes sales on eBay. While in the case of sellers, eBay made selling attractive to all. In such a way, that buyers’ room became sellers too. There was a lot of selling going on, and just about anything was being sold. Sales on the platform became interesting; everyone started selling off items they did not need as the market was also available.

Another point that stood eBay out among other e-commerce platforms is the trust that buyers will always have for marketplaces where there is a high rate of competition, multiple choice of sellers, and reasonable prices. These endeared eBay to buyers as against single stores that lacked all of these features. This drove sellers to the platform to gain recognizability, and trust of customers before they now get into their digital stores.

eBay sets the system in place for the protection of both sellers and buyers. For instance, if a seller requests a refund when the seller has done nothing wrong, eBay could step in and make provisions to protect the seller.

How Big is the Market?

Presently, eBay has been ranked among the top five biggest marketplaces in the world, with Amazon leading the lot. There are over 250 million people who buy on eBay.

How can I Scale my Business on eBay Store?

· Consider the Marketplace Fee

· Before one can sell on the online market platform, you must pay a marketplace fee. This fee discourages people who sell wares with a low turnover rate and markup.

· Therefore, it is essential first to ascertain the profit margin of selling the goods you intend to sell before deciding the platform on which you’ll sell your wares.

· Make offerings for coupons and discounts

· Coupons are an easy way to get buyers flocking your store. It encourages buyers to visit your store.

· Empathize

· Sit back, put yourself in the shoes of buyers, and imagine what will make you patronize your store if you were a buyer.

· Conduct user research to ensure your store is customer-centered

· To stand out in the market, you must consider the opinions of your customers.

· The interest of your customers has to be at the core of your strategies and plans.

How do I open an eBay Store?

Opening your eBay store is one of the simplest tasks to undertake. It is easier to run a store on eBay than setting up your e-commerce store. Follow through on the following steps to create your eBay storefront:

· Download the eBay app, open an account. Note that there are two categories of reports on eBay. One for buyers and the other for sellers. Sign up for the sellers’ accounts.

· Buy a subscription. Without it, you cannot run the shop. See it as you paying for rent.

· Once you have paid your subscription fee, then you can begin to customize your storefront. Customize your storefront in a way that reflects your brand and distinguish you from the rest, remember that eBay is a market.

· Having customized your storefront, start putting up products into the store.

· Set up details about the products you sell, discount deals.

· Fill in your bio in the ‘about me’ page.

· Start out selling.

· You can ask fellow sellers on the platform if you are confused about anything.

eBay is a fabulous starting point for entrepreneurs wanting to experiment with e-commerce. For most people that want to go full scale in the line of ecommerce B2C eventually, eBay is

always just a start point. Once you’ve gained recognition and a large customer base, then my advice is that you move on to your digital store. But before you leave eBay, you can run both stores concurrently to test-run customer’s reactions to your store and how viable the plan looks. Once you have crossed your ‘I(s)’ and crossed your ‘t(s),’ then you can move on to your store.

While you are in the process of moving, you could put up the link to your store in the ‘about me’ page on your eBay store so your customers can look you up. Do not make the mistake of putting your link direct and visible place, eBay could ban you for trying to redirect its customers. You could also drop messages about your store in the package of goods you are delivering.

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