Sell your eBay business to buyers
Your relationship with your buyers is central to the reputation and success of your business and brand. Keeping them happy may sometimes feel challenging and time consuming, but the dividends can be well worth it.
Customer service tips
Providing good customer service is important. As the online marketplace becomes more and more competitive, consumer expectations have also risen. Getting your customer service right encourages buyers to return, and it could give your business a real boost.
We recommend following some basic rules to help you build a solid rapport with your buyers:
- Item description: As your item descriptions help buyers decide whether to buy from you, it’s crucial they are accurate and comprehensive. Always include any item flaws so that the buyer’s expectations are met.
- Photos: High quality product photos are a must for encouraging buyers. It’s about showcasing your items - and business - to their fullest potential. Inferior photos could be the difference between making a sale and losing out to a competitor.
- Payment, postage, and return preferences: These are key elements of your buyer transactions and should be clearly defined.
- Tracking information: Buyers appreciate being able to track the items they’ve purchased. You can upload tracking details to My eBay.
- Buyer questions and enquiries: Slow responses and enquiries left unanswered can be frustrating for buyers and so it’s important to keep communications friendly, open, and honest. When a buyer selects Ask a question on your listing, they’ll be taken to a page where we'll try to help them find the answer to their query.
- We'll automatically generate answers for some common questions based on the information you provided in your listing. In addition, you can add Q&As specific to your listings. Go to My eBay > Account > Manage communication with buyers > Manage questions and answers to set them up. If you make it easy for your customers to find the answers to their questions, you could save time responding to messages.
- Avoiding buyer issues: There are some simple, practical steps you can take to reduce the risk of something going wrong with your buyers' purchases. We also recommend our members always communicate with each other via eBay Messages. That way, we have a record if anything goes wrong.
Avoid cancelling transactions
Cancelled transactions lead to disappointed customers, and defects against your seller standard. Here are some things you can do to prevent this from happening:
Keep your inventory well stocked. If you subscribe to Selling Manager Pro, you can set up alerts to tell you when your products are running out.
If an item becomes unavailable, end your listing or update your listing quantity immediately.
If you activate the out-of-stock feature, we can automatically hide your multi-quantity, Good 'Til Cancelled listings when they reach a quantity of zero.
Store your items in a safe, secure area to prevent damage or loss.
If a buyer contacts you to request a cancellation or refund, select "buyer requested" as the reason for the cancellation. Buyer-requested cancellations don't count as defects.
Make the most of your profile page by considering...
· Cover photo
· Profile picture
· Text description
Giving your profile a personal touch is also good for business. It builds awareness of your brand, increases buyer confidence and makes eBay a more engaging place for people to buy and sell.
